I can’t get away from it. The Paleo. It’s everywhere. My natural grocery store has a display devoted to Paleo cookbooks and reference texts. The blogosphere is all but saturated with titles like Paleo Hacks, Paleo on a Budget, Everyday Paleo, and The Paleo Plan. My damn Pinterest feed is littered with Paleo affirmations. Hell, I’ve even tried to cash in on the fad, labeling some of my recipes as “paleo/primal friendly.” But no matter how often I see the “benefits” of the Paleo diet spewed about from various sources, frankly, it seems like a crock. And as far as I can tell, it is:
5 Reasons Why Your Paleo Diet is Pathetic
1. It’s not the be-all, end-all of eating styles. One could probably notice the same benefits with any change of diet. “There’s this tendency to want to find the normal human diet,” said Randolph Nesse, professor of psychiatry and psychology at the University of Michigan, who might be called a father of evolutionary medicine, in a recent interview on NPR.org. “But every single diet you pick has an advantage of some sort. Humans have lived in all kinds of places and we have adapted to all kinds of diets.” Basically, there is no one perfect solution to all of your eating dilemmas.
2. Paleo could very well be harmful to your body in the long-term. A strict Paleo diet can be labeled as a “ketogenic diet,” meaning it is high in fat, low in carbs, and contains an adequate amount of protein. However, this type of eating could be robbing your body of essential nutrients and taxing your organs. Additionally, those who are prone to eating disorders could suffer even more. Scott Abel, a prominent online health and fitness coach, posted this warning on Facebook in response to the popularity of keto diets: “Let’s be clear here. I’ve been coaching clients with eating disorders for well over a decade now. And while all diets and long-term attempts at calorie deprivation run the risks of begetting eating disorders, certain diet “styles” are riskiest. Far and away the riskiest diet styles for turning into eating disorders are diets that severely restrict carbohydrate – keto-type diets in particular. Of my experience with eating disorders, I’d say over 80% of clients with eating disorders or suffering metabolic consequences were triggered by “keto” type diets and associated carb-restricting attempts. For people who already have the psychological traits associated with eating disorders, these types of diets are like putting a lit match to a gasoline tank. Do with that information what you will–but at least consider it! That “diet” may feel to you like its working “for now,” but there may be serious and long-term consequences ahead.”
On top of that, it is now common knowledge that consuming too much red meat can lead to health problems, namely, heart disease. NPR reported on this downfall of the Paleo diet in June 2012.
3. Paleo was founded on a myth, and cutting out entire food groups just doesn’t make evolutionary nor scientific sense. Paleo-philes seem to operate on the notion that our ancestors were a particular type of person, hunting and gathering a specific type of diet, and that our bodies are “designed” to process only certain types of foods. Barbara J. King, a biological anthropologist at the College of William and Mary, reported on NPR in October 2011: “Here’s where science most forcefully speaks back. First, ancient hunter-gatherer groups adapted to local environments that were regionally and seasonally variable — for instance, coastal or inland, game-saturated or grain-abundant (eating grains was not necessarily incompatible with hunter-gatherer living). Second, genes were not in control. People learned what worked in local context for survival and reproduction, and surely, just as in other primates, cultural traditions began to play a role in who ate what. In short, there was no single hunter-gatherer foraging strategy, and genes no more “designed” our eating behavior than they designed our language or our ways of relating between the genders.”
To further this point, Jane Lear, in her article, “If You Believe in Science, Don’t Go Paleo,” contends, “As far as I’m concerned, the idea that there is essentially one Paleo Diet is up there with the equally ill-founded notion that there is one cuisine that defines India, say, or China. Proponents [of the Paleo diet] may put forth clear and logical—thus easy to understand—arguments, but that doesn’t necessarily make them correct. (Before you get your knickers in a twist, think about the Flat Earth Society. And the Tea Party.).” Ha!
4. It’s expensive. And exclusionary. Paleo isn’t for everyone; it’s for the upper-class. I couldn’t find any good demographics for the typical Paleo eater, though this survey came close. Essentially, the typical Paleo is an American, between the ages of 21-40, who is college-educated, and married without children. The survey linked above didn’t ask about race nor income, but I can assure you, as a person who tried to adhere to this diet, it’s freakin’ expensive. When you’re buying nothing but grass-fed, local meats, substituting tons of produce for your formerly-found-in-grains fiber, relying on nuts to fuel you, and investing in expensive ingredients like coconut flour and the like, the grocery bill adds up. Restrictive diets like veganism and Paleo exist only where they CAN exist. People who can’t afford to make distinctive choices about which food groups they eat simply don’t consider these diets an option at all–in the U.S. nor anywhere else.
5. Individual bodies have individual needs at any given time. One of my favorite nutrition gurus, Annemarie Colbin, writes in Food and Healing, “…there is no one diet that is right for everyone all the time. It is crucial that each person contemplating a change in diet monitor his or her body’s feedback, the feelings it emits of “okay” or “not okay”(10). I felt a bit hypocritical in typing this piece, since I have test-driven many diet styles from veganism to even Paleo. Friends will tell you that I’m borderline insane in my efforts to stop people from imbibing so much dairy. Yet, when my son was born and we began breastfeeding, and my body was taxed of calories and fat, I knew I had to give up on being vegan. I allowed meat back into my diet. Then some dairy. And now, you could call me a regular omnivore. I listened to what my body needed, and this should always be the case.
In an excerpt from Diet Recovery 2, author and creator of 180DegreeHealth.com, Matt Stone, asserts that we can never be positive about what is “healthy” and “unhealthy” for us:
[box] It’s extremely hard to figure out whether or not something is good or bad for you based on purely intellectual reasoning. … even with things that we can all intellectually agree is unhealthy, such as a meal at McDonald’s, there will be literally thousands of people that read this book who are freezing cold, or haven’t slept through the night in years, or who are suffering from anxiety, yada yada. And most of those health-conscious people wouldn’t DARE eat at McDonald’s. But, to their surprise, they might find almost immediate relief from their health condition(s) if they were to go pig out on 2-3 double Cheeseburgers, an apple pie or two, and an ice cold Coke from none other than the infamous Mickey D’s. Why? Because the calorie-density, digestibility, and salt and sugar-heavy load of a McDonald’s meal is unparalleled. And for someone in a really low metabolic state, this can literally be the most therapeutic of all combinations. You might heal faster eating at McDonald’s than trying to do it on organic, unrefined, wholesome, and nutritious food because such food is not as calorie-dense, has a higher water content, has more fiber, and is just too damn filling and unexciting to foster the same level of calorie consumption. So the unknowns about what is and isn’t healthy for an individual at any given moment are so vast that they are beyond our ability to neatly file into categories of “good” and “bad.” … You need to move on from this overly analytical way of thinking. For health reasons.”[/box]
So, ultimately, is the Paleo diet bad? No, not if that’s what you feel your body needs to be doing at this time. I can attest that a vegan diet introduced me to the idea that my body functions best without too much dairy. I learned how to cook new foods in different ways. I got educated about the horrors of factory farming and our food supply. But when my body needed a change, I listened, and I was informed, and I broke the rules. That is how a health journey begins, by breaking a prescribed doctrine and doing what is right for YOU.
Want another great resource? I glean so much info, inspiration, and insight from Amber the personal trainer behind GoKaleo.com. A couple of my sources in this post were found originally via Go Kaleo’s Facebook page. If you’re looking for a simple philosophy about health, “eat well, move, get enough sleep,” and powerful motivation to boot, I urge you to follow Go Kaleo. She’s pretty badass and one of my internet heroes.
Do you adhere to a Paleo diet? Have you tried it?
What are your thoughts on the Paleo fad?
photo credit: TheBusyBrain via photopin cc
photo credit: Lord Jim via photopin cc
photo credit: Ack Ook via photopin cc
Thank you for this!! I have several friends who are on the Paleo diet, and my biggest concern is they completely cut out food groups. As you say, it’s not for everyone and everyone’s needs differ greatly.
Exactly. I know I function much better when I have some grains. I couldn’t function without rice & quinoa!
I am trying to eat Paleo but in moderation more of a Modified Paleo Diet. I will eat Whole Grain Breads and an occasional Pizza or Ice Cream!
You could’nt function without quinoa and rice or you just don’t want to? I’m pretty sure rice isn’t giving you anything root vegetables wouldn’t.
Couldn’t disagree more. There is nothing dangerous about removing processed food and sugar from your diet. Where are the studies that show you need pasta and bread? Right. And as for assuming that paleo mean ketogenic is also ridiculous. I eat about 50% of my calories from carbs. Fruits and veggies are good sources of carbs not chemicals. How about you check out all the ingredients in the crap companies try to feed us. Also, I spend the same on groceries eating Paleo, about 100 a week for 2 people! If you think for one minute that I’m ” unhealthy” or “unsafe” eating tons of fruits and vegetables, chicken, fish, eggs, nuts and oil then you clearly have no understanding of nutrition or the body.
As a medical student, paleo is not “ketogenic” unless you aren’t eating sugar. Those on paleo eat can eat fresh fruit often. Therefore, they can get plenty of sugar to avoid excess production of ketones associated with low blood sugar. #2 isn’t accurate, and derails the entire article.
I’ve been 100% Paleo for 6 months and I’ve never felt better! I’ve had PCOS for 30 years and my most recent physical showed an elevated fasting glucose and I lost my miiiiind! There’s a right way and a wrong way of doing things and EVERY Paleo-hater I’ve read about has either been way off on their food intake or give up after a week and write a ridiculous, sometimes downright vicious blog post to rip the lifestyle apart.
Yes, it is a lifestyle and I’m far from monetarily rich, with 2 kids and 4 adopted animals. You don’t have to be rich to make smart choices. It took me 6 weeks to get through the “carb flu” and 4 months to see the scale move, although my clothes told a different story and it was the best thing I’ve ever done! My BG is down and the rest of my bloodwork is pristine.
Your article is dangerous and the reasons you give are “pathetic” – do you know where the current low fat, ‘healthy whole grain’ MYTH came from? A fellow named ansel keys created this theory for the big food companies in the mid 20th century when the U.S. government released its first food guides-but originally they had commissioned professor Louise light to come up with recomendations to ensure the health of the nation- after years of study and research she concluded that a low carb diet rich in healthy fats and moderate proteins (essentially paleo) was the healthiest- she discovered the dangers of high carb diets on health and had plenty of research to support this. When she presented her findings to the gov. The food lobbyists where outraged. This approach would kill their industry and destroy their profits.enter ansel keys- the paleo diet which is eating whole foods, organically grown, eating locally and In season, eating protein that’s grass fed or wild, without GMO, without hormones, and without processing- no body can argue that it’s not the healthiest and most natural way to eat.look around you, what has the current idea of healthy diets done to us? We’ve never been fatter or sicker and that started with the food guidelines.carbohydrates from vegetables and carbs from processed flour (white or wholegrain) create s very different hormonal response in your body. Grains turn into sugar the minute they hits your system- that’s why grains and “whole grains” are unhealthy-essentially they are sugar and highly inflammatory – BLOCKIng your bodies ability to derive nutrients from any food you eat! not to mention the high carbohydrate loading triggers an insulin response which not only stops your body from using fat stores for fuel for up to 74 hours, it turns into fat stores in your body. Carbs make you fat and bloated and sick and are the cause for heart disease. Please stop peddling the ignorant nonsense as above in your article which is dangerous to people when you purport to be some sort of expert on health as your blog name suggests. PS the paleo diet SAVED my life and I’ve never been healthier!
Lol. You responded below that you were sorry someone thought you”trashed paleo” you absolutely did! What else would you call your headline?! I’ve never read your blog before and I’ll be sure not to start now. You really need to do your research – understand what paleo is- it’s not a “fad” trendy diet- it’s eating the way nature intended. If you think eating everything in moderation is the key to health- lets talk I ten years time when you’ll no doubt have developed some sort of autoimmune or hormonal problem- moderation is great if you don’t mind diabetes in moderation or heart disease in moderation. You are ignoring the scores of people like myself who have health issues because of eating wholegrains and now need a paleo diet in order to restore health – and that’s on doctors orders.
This blog post is ridiculous.
Paleo is great it’s helped me immensely, obviously it’s not for everyone but robbing nutrients? How?
I get more from this diet than any I’ve ever done to try to fight my PCOS.
The only food groups your cutting out are grains and dairy basically.
Complex sugars, chemicals our bodies have a hard enough time breaking down or can’t.
Paleo may have saved my life and made it able for my body to conceive.
I found out I had fatty liver disease a month and a half into my paleo ‘lifestyle’ because 1. It’s not a diet.
But 2. I didn’t know I had liver disease until paleo!!! Because it was cleaning out the fat stored in my liver from all the extra sugar and carbs and so I started having cramping pains after detoxing my body.
My doctor approved paleo and said he didn’t want me to get off track.
Hi, I just tried Paleo and my skin went red, hot, itchy all over my face arms, and chest. My teeth ached and jaw was sore, my feet hurt, I was extremely warm in the morning and had to sleep with a paper plate beside my bed so I could fan myself cool at any given point. I could only sleep in 4 hour intervals because I would awaken so warm and could not cool down unless I fanned with paper plate in front of open freezer. I am not going through menopause, I’m 42 and never get hot. I have zero health problems, no meds, I don’t even need to wear glasses. I seriously felt like I was 22 before Paleo. I hate Paleo. Farewell Paleo.
I believe you are absolutely right in saying that one kind of diet does not answer it all. I am an east indian and followed a north indian diet all my life until i moved to US. So many health problems started to appear vague in appearance but definitely influencing my life negatively. Finally got a diagnosis of hashimotos ( that too on a trip to india). One of the major reason for this appearing so late in my life and that too after the move was choices of staple food available , GMOs being the foremost. Although i m on the drugs for my condition but those hardly seem to alleviate any of tge symptoms. And again the reason was diet.. So many grains are now allergens for our body, modulate immune receptors in our body triggering autoimmune cascade and giving rise to so many sensitivities especially food groups like gluten soy dairy. Going on paleo worked instantly.. For first time in ten years of being afflicted with the condition i got it feels like i m back on my journey to my normal self.. Road to holidtic health. Changing times and food practices are giving rise to new diet lifestyles. So there is nothing wrong in adopting a certain lifestyle if it suits the needs of your body.
Sadly – there are many in the paleo world that perpetuate the view that paleo is a low carb diet. The Kitavan Islanders studied extensively by Lindeberg, ate a a high carb diet.
Paleo has a disfuncional relationship with the low carb movement. Paleo is carb agnostic. You should eat the carbs you need to support your body’s needs. Paleo changed my health dramatically – I will never go back to eating some foods as they trigger auto-immune reactions for me.
When you trash paleo – you do not acknowledge the profound effects it has on people like myself with auto-immune conditions and you ignore the growing amount on research supporting this dietary template for those with health conditions such as type 2 diabetes and auto-immune issues.
I personally suscribe to the well researched work of Paul Jaminet “Perfect Health Diet”
Julianne, I’m sorry that you think I “trashed paleo;” I acknowledged that diet shifts can certainly open people to healthier ways of eating/living. I will check out “Perfect Health Diet,” but will admit that the title sounds, like so many of the Paleo tenets, unattainable.
Haha. — “I’m sorry you think I trashed Paleo.”
Page title – “5 Reasons Why Your Paleo Diet is Pathetic.”
1. The vast majority of practitioners don’t suggest a ketogenic approach, rather, as Julianne suggests, the level of carbohydrate that matches your activity level.
2. You won’t find any serious proponent of the lifestyle suggesting our bodies were ‘designed’ to eat certain types of food. Rather, the environment of evolutionary adaptedness (EEA) was one were certain types of foodstuffs didn’t exist in modern form, or at all, therefore, our bodies are more well adapted to certain foods. Many studies suggest this is the case.
3. It’s expensive – What kind of argument is this?
This is more an artefact of the way we produce and consume food and modern industrial agricultural process. Some Paleo foodstuffs are only more expensive because they are more scarce. More demand will result in more competition and lower prices for currently rare foods.
4. Do what is right for you. Agreed. The argument is that the main tenets of the Paleo diet, followed by many people is probably going to be good for them. Better than too much high glycemic index carbohydrate, processed food, etc. There is no requirement for it to be high meat, high fat that seems to scare everyone else so much.
This post was in response to the idea that “everyone should be eating Paleo,” and in response to the seeming inability to escape the trend. So, #3: no Paleo denies it’s not more pricey to eat this way. My inclusion of this fact is not so much of an argument against the diet itself, but against the idea that it should be a goal for everyone. I like how you haven’t attacked what scientists and anthropologists have said on this–what are the “many studies” that suggest we’re more well-adapted to certain foods? And by “we,” you, of course, mean Anglo Americans, right? 😉 Why isn’t this a global phenomenon? Why isn’t the WHO jumping to educate the masses: “Avoid Grains!” “No Seeds!” I’m just thinking out loud here, but really, why are privileged Americans so worthy of such a “revolutionary” theory?
The “Perfect Health Diet” is flawed because supplementing with Vitamin K & C are required to prevent heart disease. Magnesium supplement is required because animal products contain very little of it.
There are some things good about the palio diet but it is hardly the safest diet in fact it is very questionable. I look at the Mediterranean diet for type 2 diabetes a diet that’s been around for years with proven results. .
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2014/04/18/mediterranean-diet-more-effective-than-low-fat-diet-for-slowing-diabetes/
I think a few years from now we will see the dangers of this diet and the increase of cancer from lack of healthy grains.
I so agree with you. I have asthma, allergies, ulcerative colitis, general inflammation and migraines. When I eat paleo, which does include carbs, it all goes away. Vegetables, fruits and nuts have carbs people. Are you sure you don’t mean grains?
People are mistaken about so many things regarding food. Like eating organic is expensive , you can’t get enough protein on a vegetarian diet, you have to drink milk, and paleo is expensive. It’s lack of education.
I have to STRONGLY disagree with your article and actually the first thing that popped into my head when I saw the title was “Oh boy here goes another grain lover on a tangent!” Even suggest that people eliminate grains and they get all kinds of cranky. Probably because they are ahem… addicted to all the sugar, but that is neither here nor there.
1. I have tried many diets over the years (and at length) and nothing…not vegan, not vegetarian, not raw, not traditional WAPF, nothing changed my health for the better more so than paleo.
2. Paleo is not low carb. Why perpetuate this flawed thinking?
3. Paleo was not founded on a myth. You describe how humans adapted to eat different foods to survive. This is true but does it follow that the foods they adapted to be able to even stomach suddenly become optimal for health? What??? No way! Many humans have adapted to eat grains and gluten yet that does not mean they are or ever will be optimal for good health. It just means we have become better able to tolerate sub standard food and much of these tolerances “evolved” because they provided a survival advantage in times of shortage or when the best foods were not available. The nutrient profiles show us what the optimal foods are and eating other things just because we have built up a tolerance throughout the generations previous does not make those choices healthy or optimal.
4. Yes, it is expensive. My health is worth it. I do the best I can with what I have. That is all anyone can do.
5. We do need different foods at different times and paleo folks usually follow a 80/20 or 90/10 rule to make exceptions for those times. Though these exceptions are usually treats, not because bad food is actually NEEDED. This is one of the reasons I LOVE the paleo community, they are not militant like so many other diet dictocrats.
But Tiffany, how do you explain that the Paleo fad seems to be strictly an American trend? Is the rest of the world eating “wrong?” Is this diet a sustainable model over the long-term? The “myth” I refer to is the idea that there is one version of Paleolithic Man that seems to drive this theory of eating. As for the cost, are those who are unable to afford the high cost of Paleo diets not “worth it?”
Qualifying foods as ‘best’ or ‘sub standard’ based solely on nutrient density IS militant, and also smacks of disordered thought processes. Calories are a nutrient, and calorie dense foods (like grains) are extremely valuable both historically and contemporarily. I see far too many clients suffering with the symptoms of straight up starvation because of their ‘nutrient dense’ (but calorie deficient) diets. This line of thinking is way too easy to take to an unhealthy extreme.
I think Paleo is okay…as long as people aren’t eating very low calorie and very low carb. People need to eat what helps them the most.
Many people tend to go low carb on Paleo; some for “health reasons”, some for weight loss reasons (Atkins Diet style), and…
…some people go too low carb, because it can be a pain in the butt for them to have to bake and prepare foods with specialty flours and it takes time to cook/prepare all those veggies (so you don’t go too low carb).
When I did Paleo, I tended to go too low carb for weight loss reasons and because it was a hassle to prepare the carb foods. It was much easier to eat veggies, meat and fat. I wasn’t eating enough calories or enough carbs. I got better when I started eating wheat again. And drinking whole milk. The generic statement (^^^^^^^) that wheat/grains/sugar are subpar or suboptimal is false.
An interesting idea to ponder…
A few weeks ago, I read a blog post about how cool carbs are (because they really are) and read about a group of tribal people going to great lengths to get some honey from a bee hive that was very high in a tree. They’ve been doing that for ages.
http://healthyurbankitchen.com/blog/carbsandsugar/#more-1368 (picture of the honey hunters is in this blog post)
Native Americans in my neck of the woods like to roast agave hearts. It tastes like a cross between pineapple, molasses and sweet potato. To roast one takes days and is very laborious AND there’s a chance you can get poked by one of its leaves (which hurts like crazy and could break the skin and lead to infection). It is also believed that this happened in Prehistoric times.
http://www.crossingworlds.com/articles/agave.html
Hunter gatherers and indigenous people seem to eat sugar and carbs whenever they can.
So, along these lines… if a Hunter Gatherer hadn’t eaten for days and came across a bush with a few edible berries and a bunch of bananas, I’m sure that Hunter Gatherer WOULD eat the bananas first (as long as he or she knows that a banana is edible). And why? Because he or she KNOWS that those bananas are going to provide good fuel. The berries, with all those millions of healthy, miracle antioxidants won’t be first choice on that prehistoric person’s list.
And…what if a hunter gatherer comes across some tuber vegetables verses some leafy vegetables? That hunter gatherer will most likely NOT stand around and ponder which veggies have the most nutrients, but will go for the tuber first. He’s going to dig that bad boy tuber out of the ground (and check to see if there are others close by), cook it and eat it.
One thing I think that the Paleo movement fails to recognize is that they are emulating a very mythical and somewhat suboptimal diet (if you actually eat what the paleolithic people ate – no most didn’t have coconut oil, almond milk or bacon).
Hunting and gathering evolved into a more agrarian society where crops became more widely used because these people KNEW that food crops like corn, wheat and rice could support and feed more people. So they went for it. For the most part, people didn’t balk at this idea of having more reliable forms of food that could be stored and used as a good calorie base for their diets.
Many of us, on the other hand, are at liberty to eat what we want and we can eat Paleo, as long as we can afford it. Yes, it can get expensive and I think it’s okay for people to eat what they want if they can afford it. I usually only buy organic food and spend more on it than others do…but I think it’s the right thing to do for my health. We make this possible by going without cable TV and some other things.
And yes, the Paleo crowd CAN get dogmatic and elitist (like when they write stuff about grains being bad and wheat being suboptimal)..just like any other fad diet.
Wheat and grains are NOT subpar. And if you can’t eat them, did you ever think maybe your body is subpar for not being able to eat them in the first place? Just a thought, not an insult.
The books by Taubes and Dr Davis are not logical, they DO have cherry picked scientific studies and have contributed to making people give up grains and carbs…when many of them probably didn’t need to.
I think blog posts like this are a reaction to the dogmatic nature of the Paleo diet. It’s good to see dialogue like this.
Great points, Beth! Thanks for taking the time to share your experiences and insight. I’ll be checking those links out, too.
You bring up so many good points, particularly those about how an agrarian culture evolved based on societal requirements and the fact that we’re not all built the same.
Im australian and i eat paleo, as well as quite a few of my australian friends in australia. My first response to this article was “i’m not pathetic :(” I started paleo as an experiment on myself (i too am a PT) and i suddenly realised how bloated i had been. Milk, bread and other grains had let to me feeling sluggish and well a little blocked up. Paleo is not about restricting food groups but putting in the healthiest things possible into your body. Meat, veg, fruit, fish, nuts and seeds. i eat red meat only a couple of times a week, less than my non-paleo family. I use expensive ingredients on occasion but that doesn’t surpass the amount of my money others spend on take out or alcohol each week. what frustrates me here is that everyone here is looking to better there health, if you have one belief or another but shouldn’t the message be spread to the people who aren’t trying to improve their health, not those trying to work out what works better for them?
Im going to be terrible and not use any real stats and say this way of eating is seen mostly in america because if you haven’t noticed the rather high percentage of people who are obese or overweight due to the new processed and packaged things on the shops. whats wrong with cutting that stuff out? especially the amount of sugar that gets added to this stuff.
The average cost of vegetables is what brings my shopping list up. if i were to just buy bread my shopping bill would be less expensive but i may end up with scurvey. Surely this just shows how shops are stuffing us around, paleo or no, it is expensive to try to do the right thing by your body. Chips and soft drink are less expensive but im not putting that in my body? not that im saying you’re encouraging that. Just don’t tell people they are pathetic for trying to eat well in an obese western world.
Have you read this article? http://www.npr.org/blogs/13.7/2013/06/13/191036200/what-hunter-gatherers-may-tell-us-about-modern-obesity
Thank you for this article. I’ve been a vegetarian for 20 years, but I am so tired of these fad diets and their proponents, that I could spit. One week, dairy is bad. The next week, it’s good. Same with carbs, gluten, eggs, take your pick. It’s pathetic. Secondly, the people on these diets tend to carry with them a certain self-righteousness that makes me want to utter obscenities. I’m THRILLED that you have the time/energy/money to carry out these diets, but here’s the reality: Not everyone does. It’s not as simple as saying “My health is worth it.” So is mine, but the bottom line is, if I want to keep a roof over my head, I cannot go around purchasing $7 or $8 bags of specialty flour, gluten-free foods, free range meat and the like. I cannot do it. Period. (And before you jump down my throat, I DON’T eat at McDonald’s, and I am not filling my shopping cart with Doritos and Ho-Hos. And I am neither obese nor overweight).
Thanks for your input, Vegetarian! 🙂
Wow that didn’t sound self righteous at all? Oh wait…. yeah it sort of did. For one who are you to decide when a diet is a fad? For two the ins outs ups downs of what is healthy and what isn’t changing from year to year or day to day can’t be laid at Paleo proponents feet.
this has been going on for years. One thing that is a pretty safe bet though processed foods are not all that good for us. This is actually generally agreed upon in the health and fitness community.
I do not follow any diet but I’m considering Paleo and I’m also just considering cutting out processed foods or as many as I can. I find this article to be heavily biased in it’s wordings. Paleo may not be the diet to end all diets but really??? pathetic??? Sounds like someone has a chip on their shoulder to me.
Also with any diet you can only afford what you can afford. regular old ground beef is probably better for you than fruit loops though. and to the poster going off about nutrient dense calorie deficient diets… if this diet is followed properly it’s not calorie deficient at all. The calories just come through meats and fats rather than carbs for the most part.
As for it” only being popular in america how do you explain that?” why should anyone have to? Freedom was only popular in america once as well… I missed when the US became a country full of followers that had to wait on someone else to decide something was worthwhile. I thought we were a country of innovators… just sayin.
I’ve been paleo for almost 4 years and the improvements I have seen have been life changing. I was previously a healthy vegan but was suffering (and yes, I was consuming lots of fruits and veggies, healthy fats, little sugar, little bread, little soy).
Paleo does not mean low carb! I don’t know why people continue to spout this. Yes, there are some people that do lower carb than others (especially those trying to lose weight or fight cancer) but the majority keep their carbohydrate level at between 50-150 grams per day.
And your comment about too much red meat being harmful? Have you done any scientific research on that? Browsing a fellow blog doesn’t count.
http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/early/2010/01/13/ajcn.2009.27725.abstract
http://content.onlinejacc.org/article.aspx?articleid=1132823
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16467234
And why do you have a picture of a gross cheeseburger in a post about paleo? That is the exact opposite of paleo. Also, anyone with a history of disordered eating should be careful with any type of new eating to their body. That is not the average person.
And I do have two children but there are ways to do paleo on a budget. Buying a CSA share for fruits and vegetables and buying 1/2 of a cow and storing in a freezer are one way to reduce costs. And yes, as Tiffany said, my health and my family’s health are worth it.
With the new research out there on how bad sugar is for your body, especially the articles in the NY Times last week, you’d think you would do a post about that instead.
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/27/its-the-sugar-folks/
And I’m sure you are well aware that wheat raises your blood sugar more than sugar? Yes, cutting out food groups is not for everyone. But when those food groups are sugar, unhealthy oils/fats, grains (especially gluten) and legumes (especially soy), it’s worth it to feel not just physically but emotionally better.
So, why does it have to be Paleo? Cutting out sugar (not a whole food), processed oils, and junk soy is just good advice. You don’t have to be on a restrictive diet to do that. The cheeseburger pic accompanies the quote from Matt Stone, which if you read it, would explain the fast food photo.
Low carb: are those who are jumping on the paleo bandwagon really understanding how to do it in a non-damaging way? Is everyone educated? And how would you explain to a single mom, living in a 2-bedroom apartment, living on one-income, how buying a 1/2 of a cow is do-able, let alone more healthy for her and her family? How to create simple, affordable meals that provide enough calories? Is this the answer to the so-called American health crisis? Buying cows?
You also might want to check out Gary Taubes and his books as well as the book Fat Chance and Wheat Belly from doctors who are adamant against gluten and pro-higher fat diets.
Wheat Belly is on my to-read list. There is no denying that a diet overly-wrought with gluten or sugar is going to become a health issue, but I don’t think we need to go to extremes calling paleo the miracle.
People who’s argument is essentially ‘Go read an illogically conceived diet book based on cherry picked science taken out of context’ don’t really even deserve a response. Scientific studies are so easy to find that basing an argument on a diet book is lazy thinking at it’s finest.
Good post, HealthfulMama!
I agree with Amber, great post on a well intended but misguided fad diet that will soon be on the scarp heap of the Beverly Hills Diet, Atkins, 80/10/10 etc etc etc. LOW CARB is not PALEO KETO diets are SO not Paleo.
“Wheat belly” is worse than “Good Calories, Bad Calories” when it comes to making an unpalatable mess of cherry-picked research and unsubstantiated claims combined with elementary errors about human biology.
Thanks but I actually linked 3 scientific studies and have more to link if you need them.
Your links suggest saturated fat isn’t a driver of heart disease. I don’t have an issue with that, i actually agree with it. Your links do NOT show that carbs (Taubes), wheat (Davis) and sugar (Lustig) are toxic and the drivers of western disease (which is what each diet book author purports respectively.
Good article. You’re being a little too nice though. Fad diets really deserve a bit more abuse 😉
Ha! Thanks, Alan. 🙂
🙂 Alan FTW !
One of the places the paleo diet has led me is to the notion of eating traditional foods. I am currently healing some major gut problems on the GAPS diet and paleo felt like basic training for this! I think paleo is pretty strongly American because we are so out of touch with real foods in this country that it takes a major shake up like the paleo/primal diets to catch our attention. Instead of being dismissive of people’s journey’s towards health, let’s be supportive and keep a lamp lit in case they make a move outside their current plan.
The only part of this post that is dismissive is the title, the rest of my claims are supported with expert analysis. I could have used the modifier “ridiculous,” “silly,” or “whack, yo,” and I suppose most would have focused on just the title, anyway. In my conclusion, I do note that paleo can open doors for people seeking knowledge about dietary health, but I’ll just assume you didn’t read that part, either.
And are we (Americans) really so stupid that we don’t know what food is?
Frankly, I don’t have a ton of science to back this up, but in my personal experience (as someone with ulcerative colitis), paleo doesn’t work for me. My body literally cannot handle protein+fat+ complex carbs (like veg) all the time.
Which is why what you wrote about “listen to your body” resonates so much with me!
I normally don’t watch reality TV but have recently started watching “Biggest Loser” last night as I was blogging. Jackson (the 21 yr old) had a really great statement when he went home and was talking with his Mom. Something as simple as ‘Most of America doesn’t know what good nutrition is.’
I do agree that ‘fad’ diets are appealing, but people should research foods and decide what’s best for them. Unfortunately, (youth) schools don’t teach you the truth about nutrition. I have a hard time understanding (after so many studies that vegetarian/low meat diets are good for your health) why people insist on eating lots of meat. Personally, I go for a plant& veggie, whole grains mostly diet. I do not think this is “perfect” and I definitely occasionally gorge on some brie, but I’m happy with my body and health.
And as a fellow blogger & marketer, EXCELLENT choice for title. 😉 (I won’t say I haven’t picked an absurd title for clicks…)
Keep it up Gretchen!
I am a personal trainer who decided it was time to learn more about nutrition and physiology to better help my clients. I have read all the books mentioned and a whole lot more on both sides of the arguments. I do follow a whole foods approach which I would say is closest to the paleo ‘fad’ to nutrition which helps everybody that does it including myself. Some things I’ve noticed.
1) People get so emotionally attached to one diet or fired up against another that they don’t see the simlilarties that are providing the health benefits.
2) EVERYONE cherry picks data to support their points. It’s important to look at the studies used to prove these points and see how honest they are.
3) Too many people make very strong stances based on little to no actual knowledge or understanding of what they are promoting.ie Ancel Keys and the lipid hypothesis.
4)I’m sorry to say it but the general population truly does NOT have any idea what is food, much less healthy food for consumption. A high percentage of what we eat has been made by us in the last 60 or so years which means until then it did not exist or what not edible in nature.
5) We can survive off of a very wide range of foods but to thrive there are many we should not eat.
6) I respect everyone’s interpretation of studies and such but you can tell when someone hasn’t educated themeselves on nutrition as much as they should before blogging about it.
A) when you say sugar doesn’t cause Disease…type 2 diabetes IS a high sugar disease.
B) if you say wheat is good… Plants have defenses, this one has a lot of good ones that affect humans. And all of it is processed and basically the same as eating straight sugar. Fruit and veg have fiber.
C) I’ll end here. If someone says Vegetable oils and artificial sweeteners are good… Just walk away.
Craig, vegetable oils and artificial sweeteners have no place in my kitchen or in my body…blech. 😉
You have a good point about wheat having natural defenses. Wheat is notorious for having phytates, which can strip much-needed minerals out of the intestines before those minerals have had a chance to be absorbed by the body. One way to help break phytates down is to soak, sprout and ferment it. Other people avoid (as many) phytates as they can by eating white flour, instead of wheat flour. I have read that ancient people and past generations soaked and sprouted their wheat, whether on purpose or accidentally. It served them well. They were able to survive, thrive, and not ingest a lot of the phytates and anti nutrients in the process.
And I use the word “thrive” because agrarian people and their predecessors were able to carry on with hard labor, a lot more physical activity and still produce offspring. Many of these people overcame illness and prospered. It’s very obvious that their grain-filled crops were giving them optimal health for what they needed to do.
Many of us aren’t thriving, even though we’re surviving…and I have heard anecdotal stories about women being “infertile” and having hard pregnancies even while eating a nutrient-dense Paleo diet or a vegetarian (or even vegan) diet. When they got off and started eating more carbs (or meat) and dense calorie foods, they were able to get pregnant.
Many traditional people also “prepared” other grains and nuts (like corn) before eating them…something that we modern day people don’t do enough of in our fast paced and ignorant lives.
And lately, I have heard a few stories of white flour breads and foods helping to heal people with IBS problems…when nothing else would work (including nutrient dense, traditional foods).
Eating wheat based foods helped me to get some dense calories into my body and overcome severe thyroid symptoms I was experiencing after being on a sometimes very low carb Paleo diet.
Many other plants have natural defenses as well. Because I have thyroid issues now, I cannot eat raw broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, or any other Brassica-vegetable types because of the goitrogens that adversely affect my thyroid. I’ll eat them cooked sometimes, as cooking deactivates some of the goitrogens in them. I also don’t eat soy at all…I use a bit of miso paste every now and then to flavor my food.
Fruits usually don’t have defenses, and I eat more of those. Cucumber, olive, and tomato salad is a yummy fruit mix that I like. I like tubers for dense carbs too. And I’m no longer afraid to eat bananas. 🙂
I think it’s very important for people to eat what helps them to feel their best. And I think it would be helpful if more people ate homemade, whole foods, instead of dining constantly on fast foods and other yuck (but a little junk food every now and then is NOT going to hurt).
I truly don’t think that one diet is perfect for anyone. We have different needs. As long as it’s really food than I say do what works for you. Paleo wouldn’t work for me, i think my husband would do okay on it but not me.
Hey Beth. You make very good point about soaking and fermenting grains to eat them. That makes them much less toxic too our digestive system. The heavy grain diet that is recommended for health includes little to no preparation which keeps the phytates at full strength.
I agree that growing our own food gave us the energy we needed to keep up with the amount of hard Labour it takes to produce them. However,hunting and gathering took much less time and energy overall to acquire foods that were higher in energy and nutrients like animals and tubers. Anthropologists can easily tell the difference between hunter gatherer remains (taller, stronger bones and muscles with good teeth) and agriculturalists (smaller, more disease and poor bone structure)
Lisa, there is never way of eating that is good for everyone. We all have the same basic physiology. Animals and plants raised naturally and not processed. Everyone else will thrive eating this way.
For what it’s worth i really like to discuss with people who don’t get defensive.
I’m loving the dialogue you two have started, Craig & Beth!
Interesting article. I started to try paleo around the middle of last year, first doing the standard no dairy, no legumes, etc. I felt great, full of energy and my IBS symptoms were much more manageable. When I eat wheat, gluten and sometimes legumes I feel a little crappy. I feel like paleo was a good way for me to encourage myself to eat better (I’d been eating low calorie, low fat, and was low in iron and run down) and start feeding myself well, lots of calories, and lots of fresh food. I dont tend to buy ‘organic’ meat, etc, because its not viable in my budget. I buy the best I can, and I dont feel bad about that.
Fast forward to now, could my diet be described as paleo….probably not by stict paleo followers….I eat dairy, I eat chickpeas in their various delicious forms and the occasional grain (rice or corn. My IBS is still not rearing its ugly head very often, I still feel pretty good, and Im happy with what I eat, which is a well balanced, good diet for me. I never went ‘low carb’ with paleo purposefuly, in terms of I made sure to eat sweet potatoes, lots of fruits (dried and fresh). I like that Mark (Sisson, marks daily apple) talks about eating ‘primal’ as something good to do, but not something to stress over and get bogged down in the detail of….want some soy sauce, some pasta…dont panic, just dont eat them ‘all’ the time.
I agree its not for everyone, eat what’s best for you personally and enjoy food 🙂
Amy~ I think you hit the nail on the head exactly. Paleo can be a great starting point for making major change (as veganism was for me), and can introduce one to how the body feels without X, Y, or Z. Sort of like a modified elimination diet. I also agree with the idea that these hard and fast “rules” are not something to build a life around!
Brave post Healthful Mama! I have nothing new and insightful to add to this list, however, I do want to thank you for courageously speaking your piece, and quite elegantly, I might add. You have spoken for so many of us.
Kudos to you!
Thank you, Lisa!
What I dislike very much about paleo is the ‘elitist’ attitude it can foster in people. Someone on a forum told me I couldnt be serious about fat loss if I was still eating fruit and not willing to ‘cut it out’. I will continue to eat and enjoy fruit. Some people become so indignant about their own journey that they cant accept that works for them isnt for everyone.
The elitist attitude is why I wrote this post! There is something a little cultish about the paleo followers. Not all, mind you, but many won’t.let.it.go. I agree–eat that damn fruit, girl!
That person was ill informed because Paleo doesn’t eliminate fruit to begin with. some plans eliminate all sugars for a week to get you off the sugar habbit.
Most of the articles and I’ve read don’t stamp their feet and say to cut out anything altogether except processed sugars and preferably grains. Even at that most say you can cheat now and then after you get used to it.
There will be proponents of any nutrition plan that get militant and elitist. I’ve seen some pretty militant vegans and vegetarians.
A diet is what you make it. Follow it loosely or follow it religiously. Are the Paleo police going to arrest you for eating a piece of bread? Doubtful. Whatever diet you follow don’t let some stranger with little to no credentials make you feel like you’re not doing it good enough.
I’m baaaack! 😉
I just came across an article that totally dashes and severely undermines the myth of “The Egyptian People Started Eating Grains and That’s Why They Had Clogged Arteries”.
I’m posting a link here. It would be great material for an article. I think Melissa McEwen and Hunter.Gather.Love has already written about it – a fabulous article.
http://news.yahoo.com/study-even-ancient-mummies-had-clogged-arteries-001655831.html
So…I strongly disagree with Craig and others about grains being bad. This is not a defensive tactic (I wasn’t going to comment here again until I saw the recent mummy news). It’s new information for you and other no grain people to look at and consider. People started thriving when agriculture took place.
If you want to discuss issues like this with people who don’t get defensive (aka counter your points, debate, possibly turn your theories upside down, cause you to question your diet, etc), the Paleo forums are full of people who share your same viewpoint.
I’m am SO FASCINATED by this! Thanks for the share!
The consumption of cereals as food-staples began around 10,000 years ago, and NOT with the Egyptians. The article you linked includes this quote-
_”Heart disease has been stalking mankind for over 4,000 years all over the globe.”_ ~Dr. Randall Thompson, Cardiologist
Why would you think that a 4000 year old mummy would debunk the idea that eating cereals caused heart disease when they were eating cereals 4000 years ago? When you find one from 15,000-20,000 years ago, you may have something.
I read your link. It looks at mummies from agricultural cultures, which supports what the Paleo people are saying. However some were from hunter/gatherers. The article also states that you can’t read to much into the results. The calcification could be caused by metabolic factors and can’t even be used to say whether it is an indicator of heart disease.
And yes, if you can misread an article that bad, you are being defensive.
Caution on reading news articles. They NEVER tell you what’s really going on. They are meant to sell. Read the peer reviewed literature. Even that has its bias.
As others have mentioned in earlier posts, humans did not thrive on an agricultural diet. They were of shorter stature and had more diseases. However it is safe to say that agriculture and the division of labor did allow humans the opportunity to form complex and large civilizations. Kudos to grain for that. It should also be mentioned though that those grains were fermented and sprouted then. Making them less of a digestive and nutrition problem. And people only lived to ~30 years old.
My point in all this is that trying to argue for a diet from an anthropological point of view is fruitless. It is a nutritional issue and modern studies should be center stage. Paleo as it is most often taught is a nutrient dense diet that avoids foods that research has shown to be problematic for a significant number of people.
Studies going back 50+ years show consuming 8-11 servings/day of vegetables and fruit have huge health benefits. The government recommendations were set to accommodate agriabusiness and what they thought the public might be willing to do. They were never set on pure science.
If you are going to eat those 10 servings of fruit and vegies a day you cannot eat much else. Meat is a nutrient dense food. Grains have a low nutrient/calorie ratio. In a culture that gets very little exercise we don’t need to be consuming the equivalent of nature’s junk food.
When I read the title of this post I figured you’d be attacked by the Paleo followers, so kudos to you for speaking your mind. I really understand what you mean about the elitist attitude, to most Paleo is all or nothing and I disagree with that, because as you clearly stated that everybody is different. However, I think you failed to mention the serious negative effects that grains have on some people and might not even know they could benefit from avoiding them.
I’m glad you mentioned that it includes an excessive amount of protein and the negative effects of this, however I disagree with your statement “consuming too much red meat can lead to health problems, namely, heart disease” you are misleading your readers because the truth is that conventional meet (hormones, antibiotics, unhealthy feed, etc) IS harmful, but grass-fed meat is healthy and essential, this is why:
-Higher in antioxidants beta-carotene and vitamin E
-Higher in the B-vitamins thiamin and riboflavin
-Higher in the minerals calcium, magnesium, and potassium
-Higher in total omega-3 fatty acids
-A healthier omega-6 to omega-3 ratio (1.65 in grass-fed beef versus 4.84 in grain fed)
-Higher in conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), a potential cancer fighter
-Higher in vaccenic acid (which can be transformed into CLA)
Meat also provides our body with essential saturated fats
Once again, I commend you for this article, I am a regular follower therefore I value your opinion but I think this article fell a bit short.
Thanks for your comments, Stephanie! Grass fed meat is certainly more healthy, but, once again, everything in moderation. I encourage everyone to find what works best for them, but check-in with their bodies, and not feel like they have to be committed to one end-all, be-all diet “solution.”
Absolutely right! Oh and my Pinterest feed is inundated with Paleo posts, too. So I’m pinning this one, if anything to create balance 😉
ONly paranoid Internet crackpots basj soy. The Okinawans are the longest lived people on the planet. Their diet is very rich in soy.
All of these Internet Blogshpere sites are utter nonsense.
Too expensive??? Are you kidding me? I spend about $40 a week to buy my paleo groceries. Prior to that, I spent at least $25++ per DAY eating out at fast food places.
Comparing any type of at-home cooking with eating out is going to show home cooking to be cheaper. $25/day?! Were you eating every meal at the fast food joint?
Who cares about the cost factor in a health debate? (HealthfulMama seems to keep pushing this point) Seriously, the LARGEST issue with our food system is mega-corps adding cheap additives for filler while cutting corners on dangerous processing techniques in order to drive costs down. I am sorry if somebody thinks one way of eating is expensive or if they cannot provide for the entire family while doing it, but that is how our society got into this mess in the first place… McDonalds & WalMart mentality. I know MANY healthy people on Paleo, or their personalized version of it, who have regular blood tests, screenings, etc without amazing health gains over their old diets. The latter may be the actual “added” cost of properly following up with a nutritionist in order to monitor your own body and how it is adapting to any new diet. God knows just about every single American needs to wake the heck up in this regard! Regardless of your diet choice, you need to do what is best for your own body to the extent you are financially able. Save a few dollars now on what you put in it and expect to spend 1000x more later in medical bills. Can’t afford to eat healthy? You probably have areas you could cut, like those new shoes or the $180/mo cable TV service… especially if it actually means sustainable health for all in your household. Money should never be an excuse to eat right… if it is, you are living beyond your means and need a reality check, sister.
Typo: *with amazing health gains over their old diets
I, apparently, need a reality check but you’re not considering the fact that people have priorities other than what’s in their grocery cart. I agree that good food is a foundation for good health, but I don’t think paleo is the answer to an entire society’s ills and an entire food system’s errors.
Interesting response upon your attitude being perceived as “people rightfully care more about other priorities, yet I -the author- write aimlessly about nutrition anyhow”. I would assume your stance would be making people understand how health should remain one of their absolute top priorities. At least that is taken from how passionately you make Paleos out to be “Pathetic”, and you must therefore care about healthy eating as a whole. So I guess have a good long life?.. albeit shorter as it will be with priorities other than the “health” you seem to spout on about.
We live in one of the most spoiled & sick-minded societies in history… putting 100% material “success” before our own lives & vitality… cutting our spending on healthy, nutrient-rich, earth provided food & animals in order to buy designer labeled sweatpants with easily expanding elastic waistbands. This is also how we (as fat, entitled Americans) have become the laughing stock of the world.
I also did not aim my comment specifically on Paleo, yet simply made a mention that I know a few extremely healthy people who have a trail of doctor & specialist data to prove that the diet works for them. Years worth actually, and yes they are well off society types so this part of the discussion is admittedly lost in regards to how much money can be spent by anyone. However, most people should still really find a way to speak & do testing through a nutritionist (they personally agree/align with) at least a few times in their lifetime.
In your defense, and part of my point, there will always be those who do not know what is good for their own bodies all the while ignorantly pushing through any “fad” diet. Each person is unique and has slightly different nutritional needs as said by many in this discussion. Honestly, my belief is that Paleo eating is geared towards and best optimized by O blood types. (And that is with vegetables being the grand majority portion)
Investing in your own health & diet (regardless of which one is right for you) is priceless! Not only does it mean longer energetic days, but remaining healthy & fit is ABSOLUTELY the fastest way to success (spiritually, monetarily, socially, family, etc etc etc)… you can not put a price tag on that. It is also a sad reality that individuals who skimp now, may actually miss the buss to their own successful bliss.
Your choice…. yet still little to do with the immediate financial costs since not doing it the right way is always more expensive in the big picture. If financial worry is a concern in your world (as it unfortunately & understandably is for far too many), I think most people in our society who have become “successful” in the area of fortune will tell you they didn’t do it with low energy, crap food, or poor health. It pays to make it a priority!
Most people buy pre-processed foods, cereal, canned food, frozen food, Mac N Cheese, “hamburger helper” etc.. etc.. Not to mention how much they spend on pop, juice, etc. You really think it costs more to purchase a piece of raw chicken and some veggies? Get real. And the fact that people have other priorities other than their grocery cart is why we’re all eating DEADLY chemicals and stuff like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_slime What could possibly be a higher priority than eating healthy REAL food and not dying of cancer?!
Seriously, this “paleo is too expensive” myth is really a huge pet peeve of mine. You’re telling people it’s too expensive to eat healthy, and you’re not even being accurate. Sure, a soccer mom who is on a Paleo Diet Fad Kick might go into Whole Foods and buy everything that says “Organic” on the label and spend $300. But I literally spend between $20-$40 for an entire week’s worth of healthy groceries. Meat and veggies are not that expensive. Even organic meat, and not all veggies need to be organic. My organic beef cost me $1 more per pound than the non-organic (which contains nasty crap in it.) Paying $1 to not get sick? That’s a deal. But I also had a coupon, so it didn’t even cost me more to eat the real meat. If you like eating soylent green, be my guest and keep that extra dollar.
I would love to see a receipt of a $20 grocery bill for the week.
Two pounds of organic beef with coupon = $10, and if you can’t buy $10 worth of vegetables you’re a really bad shopper or you shop at the most expensive store in the universe. You know what else is cheap? Eggs. Some paleo people eat legumes. A can costs 89 cents and is good for 4 meals. It’s not bloody rocket science.
Ha ha– you attacked healthfulmama assuming that when she says paleo is expensive you assume (and you know what happens when you assume right?) she isn’t consuming a healthy diet; but I’m sorry to tell you my friend, that if all you eat for the week is 2 lbs of beef and some veggies you are not consuming a nutrient-dense diet.
$20 for the week my tush!
I *do* shop at The Most Expensive Store In The Universe! It’s amazing. They also sell The Most Expensive Family-Feeding Can of Beans in the Universe. I tell ya, I envy you for your cheap beef and tablespoons of beans meals. I only WISH I could eat like that and on a such a budget. Kudos, my friend. You should start your own website titled Hyperbolic Rants About Food and Other Stories.
Oh no! What happened to neversaw cooment? I copied and pasted from my email notificaion “Actually, I never assumed she wasn’t consuming a healthy diet, I said she was saying Paleo is expensive, when it isn’t. Get some reading comprehension skills. Secondly, vegetarians eat only vegetables. I eat primarily vegetables and small portions of meat. Have you never heard of a vegetarian? Have you ever heard of a raw food diet? Why is eating vegetables and small amounts of meat such a difficult thing to understand? I am done posting here. You people are raging idiots.”
Well, no wonder he/she is so cranky! No, vegetarians, and raw foodies do not consume a nutrient dense diet; studies show that not one culture whose diet is plant base has thrived, and don’t get me started on vegans, although you didn’t mention it.
Dear neversaw, you need some good ol animal saturated fat for your foggy brain. Eat some pastured butter, some pastured eggs, some raw milk…please! 🙂
Oh, I deleted that one due to the “raging idiots” commentary. There are better ways of discourse than name-calling.
Oh, I should’ve thought of that, very true. You can delete mine if you want then, dice I copied and pasted his comment. Kudos to you!
Eating a paleo-based (not strict) diet has improved life immensely for my family… but not every family is the same and not every family is willing to make those sacrifices for the sake long-term health and wellness.
Do what makes you and your family happiest and as long as you aren`t being rude to anyone else you`re good to go:)
Reading this made me sad. I have had great success for 18 months now with Paleo. The biggest online Paleo ‘celebrities’ are not dogmatic nor exclusive in their approaches – they respect and appreciate other ‘real food’ approaches to diet. The part I disagree with most here in your post is that you say Paleo is exclusive, which is simply not true. The main point of Paleo is to eat real, unprocessed food. If that’s not inclusive, what is?
Grace, because paleo isn’t just “eat real foods,” it’s “eat real, unprocessed foods–but only the ones on this list.” To get enough calories, you need to buy more and eat more of that list. Buying pounds of nuts and pounds of meat and veggies, even in bulk, costs A LOT. That’s exclusive. You won’t see lower-income families eating on the paleo philosophy.
Eating a Paleo diet is just like everything else in life, you have to be educated about it and do what works for you. I have been Paleo for about 4 months and in that time have begun to heal from 25 years of fibromyalgia which at times controlled my life. I no longer take blood pressure or thyroid medications because I no longer need them. My IBS symptoms are all gone and I am gaining energy every day. I can’t remember the last time I felt this good and I believe it will get even better as I continue this way of eating. I do not see myself ever putting another cheeseburger in my mouth. As far as everyone who is Paleo restricting carbs that is totally wrong. I easily eat 125-150 grams of carbs per day in fruits and vegetables. I eat 3 meals and at least 2 snacks every day. To make a blanket statement that Paleo is bad because some people drastically restrict carbs is just wrong. And don’t even get me started on the grams of refined sugar in the average American diet…
Cuts out food groups? The paleo framework promotes eating the most diverse diet possible. It challenges you to all kinds of healthy traditional food sources shunned modern palates, from eating the whole animal head to tail, insects and as many different kinds of fruits, veggies and animals you can get your hands on. Can you please enlighten me as to which nutritional deficiencies that I will die from while eating grassfed organ meats, pastured duck eggs, fermented vegetables, home made konbu dashi, sashimi, and home grown fruits, veggies and herbs etc?
The paleo framework is not a strict set of rules. It is based on making better choices about diet in an uncertain world. If you want to make decisions about a healthy diet with a high degree of confidence look to nature and evolution where the sample size is in the trillions of trillions.
Statistically speaking, natural systems are more robust than human designed systems. When new foods enter the human diet they carry a higher risk of having unintended harmful consequences.THE BURDEN OF PROOF IS ON THE NOVEL. If something evolutionarily novel is introduced the job of science is to prove it is safe, not the other way around. Would you have taken up smoking in the 1920’s because at the time there was NO EVIDENCE it was harmful? What about when “heart healthy” trans-fat containing margarine was introduced?
It’s ridiculous to assume most dietary guidelines have all been “proven”, most are based on epidemiological research that can only discover correlation. It is next to impossible to do a good double blinded randomized control study that “proves” all the effects of a certain nutrient or protein. The solution is try and reduce the foods that carry the highest risk, neolithic foods.
For example, what is the risk of avoiding cereal grains? Zero, they are nutritionally poor.
What are the benefits of avoiding cereal grains? They are potentially harmless, potentially quite harmful.
This means the choice to eat cereal grains has a negative expected value. They is evolutionarily novel, and were not a major part of our diet for most of our evolutionary history. It has not been proven they is harmful for everyone but there is evidence there has been insufficient evolutionary time for humans to adopt grain consumption. If you want to claim neolithic foods are safe the burden of proof is on you. I’m sure many of them are, and many of them are not. Sadly many neolithic foods have not been proven safe by science.
Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.
You’re clearly very passionate about this subject. Tell ya what; message me in about 50 years (I’ll be in my 80’s) and we can talk about whether I made a big farking mistake in not listening to the Wisdom Of The Paleo.
That’s like saying ask me in 50 years if buying health insurance was a big mistake. Just because you don’t have to use your insurance doesn’t mean buying it was stupid. Likewise, if I won a thousand dollars playing Russian roulette would you say that was a smart thing to have done?
Very interesting post and discussion. I think your point 5 is the most valid -check in with your body. My partner has found that eating grains for the most part, and gluten in particular leads to ill feeling. That was discovered through many years of trial and error, something most people aren’t very interested in pursuing. I don’t have the same reaction, so don’t adhere to any strict guidelines.
I think one reason why this is an “American” thing is because we don’t have a traditional food culture so we love to experiment with different ways of eating. This one is the latest. And it’s also a lot easier to follow a diet plan than to actually figure out how you are feeling. That goes along with our culture, probably NOT for the best, IMHO.
Im not well versed on the particulars of the diet, but its probably hard to go wrong by eating more vegetables and fruits. Most Americans are pathetically deficient in this realm. And grass fed meat seems like a good idea from an animal welfare point of view. Maybe it’s a just me, but I believe an animal that is happy and healthy will be better able to nourish me, on many different levels.
Thanks for the post
I couldn’t even finish your article; you haven’t read much about paleo or primal. Maybe you’re only basing your assumptions off of the elitists? Either way, this fails.
It’s not expensive (I spend way less money on food now). It’s not low carb (I get around 100 grams a day). I have cheat meals (I’m 80/20). There are health benefits – I was prehypertensive, now I’m not. I lost weight. I’m no longer an insomniac. My blood work is now great. Same goes for the husband. I’ve eaten primally for 3+ years — and in a lazy cave woman. I haven’t worked out yet :p
Adding processed flours to be non-grain is not a paleo concept, it’s just some industry trying to make money. Also, fad? As if the modern vegetarian is not hooked on the very unscientific concepts engendered by other vegetarians. If you are a vegetarian for ethical reasons, then good on you, otherwise please know that an evolutionary approach to dieting is the least fadlike notion ever: please see http://www.pnas.org/content/106/38/16034.full
Way to not understand what Paleo is about. Even where you could point to specific bloggers to support your claim that this way of eating is elitist in some way, all you’re doing is buying into their narcissistic notion that they somehow represent the entire movement.
If you want to be a grain junkie, just say so. Don’t tell fibs about what Paleo is, and then expect all of us to take that as a valid argument against this eating template. Oh sure, some of us will agree with you–other grain junkies, mostly. But some of us are actually wider-read than that, and willing to keep our minds just a little bit more open.
I have no idea what a “grain-junkie” is, but I guess all the crazy grain must be influencing my judgement in what constitutes a viable source. All this time, I thought experts in their field (so, anthropologists, health/nutrition professionals and scientists) were sources for reliable information. But I see I am confused. I should have been quoting “specific bloggers” instead. All this quinoa’s made me INSANE!
I have had migraines off and on since I was 17. I will be 40 early next year. Most of my migraines were just really painful, accompanied by certain GI tract symptoms and maybe yawning, except for one in 2000 that was preceded by a visual aura. Until late 2011, when I started getting the visual symptoms regularly. It scared me.
I got off wheat in the beginning of 2012 because I was doing an elimination diet of my own devising, starting with all-meat and then reintroducing vegetables and other food groups. I stayed off wheat for about three months, then had a plate of noodles for lunch one day. Within half an hour I was sleepy. I also realized that at other times I had gone to a Mongolian style restaurant and felt like a slug after eating and that that restaurant had gluten in most of its sauces. That swore me off wheat for good. I might still very seldom get traces in the soy sauce they provide in Asian restaurants but that’s been it.
I still got headaches sometimes first thing in the morning after giving up wheat and I had one episode during my elimination re-intro in 2012 (after eating Parmesan cheese the night before–and there are connections between Parmesan and migraines), but other than that episode I have never again had a serious headache, and the visual symptoms are all gone.
And it’s not placebo. Placebo effect lasts maybe a month. This has lasted over a year now. I have also noted I have GI problems when I eat legumes, so I mostly give those a miss now too.
That’s a really odd fad if fad is all Paleo is.
Are you shitting me with this, Dana? I’m very glad that you have found something that works for you and that you are feeling better, but “an elimination diet of my own devising, starting with all-meat,” doesn’t seem like a good plan of attack for remediating a major health problem. Did you consult a doctor? I would urge you (and anyone, really) to seek medical advice. Health issues can sometimes lie dormant during a major diet change, making it seem like the diet is the cure.
You are one example, and one person does not constitute a sample size large enough to make something fact.
I’m just a few weeks in on the primal diet and am trying to read as much as I can from both sides of the equation, the lovers vs the haters. What continues to frustrate me with those criticising the paleo diet is that they ignore the fact that many who start down the paleo path often end up as primal eaters adding in dairy as well as tubers, nuts and rice on occassion. I also feel that they look at the strict tenants of the diet, but ignore the footnotes and adendums so that they can make their point about how wrong paleo is. Most of the the literature that I’ve read does not advocate that there was one paleo man from one region who’s diet we should be following. What they mean by paleo is simply that if it’s not natural if it’s not something that pre agricultural man could get his hands on we probably need to omit it, but I have often seen paleo gurus give us the caveat that just becuase something wasn’t available in paleo days doesn’t make it bad, and that we need to evaluate each food before we choose to include or omit it. Additionally, as many others here have said, paleo does not mean low carb, they want you to have carbs they just don’t want you to get them from processed sugars, or grains (which are often reifned) because of how these affect our blood sugar and energy levels AND because carbs from sugar and grains have a lot of calories that add up quickly which can be quite frustrating for someone on a diet or make it quite easy to pack the pounds on if you’re not super careful about what you’re eating. Getting your carbs from veggies is a way to give you some freedom from always having to count your calories, freedom allowing you to eat as much as you want and freedom because the food you eat doesn’t give you cravings that you have to stave off. I’ve even read paleo literature that supports eating dairy as long as you omit it for 30 days and then reintroduce it, if you have no advesrse effects during the reintroduction it’s an acceptable food source in the paleo world. As for Kaleo who says she often sees clients come in who are starving because they’ve not been getting enough calories on the paleo/primal diet that isn’t a flaw of the diet that is a flaw in the dieter. No where does paleo or primal advocate under eating. Furthermore, if some people are jumping onto the paleo/primal badwagon without learning how to properly execute these diets that again is not the fault of the diet that is the fault of the dieter. Paleo/primal says all meats are up for grabs, but they don’t speficy eating red meat, in fact Mark Sisson often says to stick to lean meats and he says bacon should not be a staple. With regards to the costliness of the diet I’d say that’s mostly bunk. While ideally these diets would have us eating the cleanest (organic, local, grass fed) meats and veggies they don’t require it. Mark Sisson repeatedly tells people to do the best that they can. There are a lot of affordable organic meats out there, they may not be grass fed, but they’re non hormone, non gmo – Kroger has a brand now called Simple Truth their chicken and bacon are really cost efficient. Even if I wasn’t onto the primal diet you can bet I’d still be picking up the hormone free chicken for my child. I don’t buy the organic produce, it’d be nice, but yes that is expensive, it is also not required, just suggested by the proponents of paleo/primal. There’s also a really cheap way to get organic produce, and I mean REALLY cheap, grow it yourself. Coconut oil and milk aren’t the cheapest things going either, but again there are ways around that, buy it on sale and use less expensive (but still primal) oils like olive oil to supplement in between times. The bottom line is from what I’ve found the paleo/primal diet just wants people to eat as cleanly and naturally as possible, they want you to keep an eye on your fat/saturated fat intake, they want you to have carbs they just want them to be carbs that are good for you, dairy is good (fermented is best) as long as you can tolerate it and yes you def. need to get an adequate amount of calories. Anyone who says otherwise is only looking at half of the picture so that they can prove an incorrect opinion. Since going primal all I’ve really cut out is processed food and I’m following all of the rules – I don’t think anyone can correctly say what we all need in our diet is more processed food.
So, Dottie, you’ve basically just described a whole-food diet, which doesn’t have any prescribed rules nor does it eliminate food groups.
I find it interesting that when someone questions the paleo diet, many responses include, “Well, if you read this person’s take…” Or “Well, you can eat xyz if you want…” Or “It’s just about clean eating!” and everything sounds a lot less like paleo and a lot more like just eating whole foods without all the hype. No one wants to admit they bought into fake science and a fad diet.
It’s not a matter of wanting or not wanting to admit as to whether or not I bought into a fad diet. Considering that the paleo diet has been around for a while and I’m just getting into it I wouldn’t be in a position to say I was fooled by the diet even if I wanted to. That being said my point was that you are ignoring whatever you need to ignore about the diet to prove your point. This is not a “this person says that” way around things, the fact is you harp on the no carbs thing, but that’s wrong. The paleo diet might have less carbs, but they still want you to eat carbs as I said they just don’t want you getting your carbs from sugar and grains. Again as I said they don’t talk about one specific paleo human from one geographical location they talk about eating foods that would have been available to a paleo person i.e. pre agriculture. Also as I stated Kaleo’s argument that the paleo diet is bad because she’s had clients come in who were undernourished from not eating enough calories is not an argument about a flaw in the diet, it’s what one might call user error. Same goes for your argument that the diet is bunk because a lot of people jump into it without properly learning about it that’s not the diet’s fault that’s the fault of people who choose not to educate themselves. Also, you argue that the diet is bad because it is not affordable, there is an ideal which is the grass fed, organic etc. however, you are still paleo if you buy non organic fruits and veggies etc and as I pointed out there are lots of affordable brands that are in fact organic etc. When you do your research to see what paleo is who or where are you looking? There must be one source of where we can look for what the paleo diet is and is not – that would put an end to the debate here between so many commenters who agree with me that you are ignoring or simply incorrect about some of the things you are claiming paleo to be. Finally, I looked at the two NPR articles you cite, I don’t really know what these are meant to prove. The first article is simply about some guy who may or may not be following the paleo diet to the best of it’s intentions and who may or may not be eating too much red meat, the second is an op-ed piece about whether we have or have not genetically morphed to eat new foods and whether or not there was one ideal diet, but that’s all it is an op-ed I don’t see any studies etc. to back up the speculations of the author.
What’s the debate? I’m saying Paleo is not the be-all, end-all, Holy Grail, Miracle Cure, Make The Blind See and the Angels Weep Diet that it’s being promoted as. The fact that you have spent PARAGRAPHS arguing WHY I SHOULD BELIEVE IN THIS points to a fanatical grasp on dietary dogma. I will repeat: my point in writing this post was to show that paleo is not something the average josephine should feel obligated to make into her lifestyle. Nor is it attainable for most. Nor is it EVEN BASED IN FACT. What I’m interested in is how the average person can make healthier decisions for her life. I’m not interested in eating styles which dictate laws, ask for lifestyle changes, require some kind of in-depth research… It’s food. It’s life. Eat the food. Live your life. Again, if paleo is working for you, great. I’m perfectly entitled to disagree that it’s the bees knees.
I usually never leave messages, but I had to leave one on your post. I totally agree with you. This paleo trend is just a trend and very fashionable these days, it almost feels like a sect.
I am a personal chef from France and living in the US for a while. I noticed so many people here have some sort of food disorder, health problems and they need to believe they have to follow a diet to feel better, treat their health problems, etc…so they find a book written by someone who found the way to make money, and here they go everyone believes it.
I think nutrition it’s like religion, everyone one has an opinion based on a book they read, on someone’s opinion who was fat and lost weight, one whatever but not on science. It’s just beliefs. I think paleo can make you lose weight, like so many other diets. Starving makes you lose weight but is it healthy?Diets in general are not healthy, eating small portions is more important than to remove grains from the table unless you have a health issue with grains.
I think assuming that cave men ate this over that is naive and the truth is we don’t really know exactly what those people ate. They ate what they found locally. Shall we live like them? Do we want a society that lived like them? no electricity, no medicine, go hunting, etc…? that is ridiculous. I think the main poisons in our society, is eating too much, eating processed food, and animal products. Now looking at the environment and looking at what we have done to the planet and the way we contribute to its pollution with animal farming is disturbing.
That is just my opinion…every one has one, but I really dislike the way certain people make you feel when they talk about their beliefs and that their way of thinking or living or eating is the right way.
Like any other diet, if you look at the popularity of all the different diets, it will calm down in a while, until someone else writes a new book on a new revolutionary diet, the best and true diet of all times, maybe the Renaissance diet and how it will improve your intelligence while losing weight.
Another blogger trashing the paleo diet without understanding the science involved.. and don’t say you didn’t trash it, look at the title of your article. Everyone on here that is against paleo hasn’t spent time to see what the diet does to your body, the actual, and real changes. I don’t care what you eat… but do some real research before you continue to sound stupid. There is research on the paleo lifestyle, and it is quite amazing. Enjoy your Dementia. Hope that slice of “Whole Wheat” bread makes it worth it.
Another Paleo elitist who is threatened by someone questioning his food religion…but I’ll bite today. First, pray tell, what is the “science involved” with the Paleo diet? As far as I can tell, there is no actual science behind this and ACTUAL SCIENTISTS will agree. (See: oh, every link I’ve put in the above post. Scientists are quoted in most of them.) Therefore, “real research” can’t be done because, 1. neither formal qualitative nor quantitative research exists, 2. we can’t go back in time to prove this “paleolithic eating” non-theory really worked any better than anything else, and 3. people haven’t been following this trend long enough to make substantial claims about its effectiveness. OF COURSE if you change your eating you’ll feel better. OF COURSE if you eliminate processed foods and sugars you’ll feel better. OF COURSE if you find a community doing the same thing you are, you’ll feel the fuck better. I was vegan for a good chunk of years and would have told you, at the time, that it was the be-all, end-all diet of diets. And I would have been able to show you books and theories and blogs and people who had success with it and “proved” it was the best thing since sliced *gasp!* bread. But, eventually, I stopped preaching, and chilled the fuck out, and stopped ranting about what I thought to be right, and worried about my own beliefs and what made *my* body feel better. Until the NIH or another formal research institution gets on board with this and definitively says, “BEST DIET EVARRRRRRRR!,” I’m calling it a fad and a ruse for the privileged. Lemme guess, you do Crossfit, too? *chomps on bread slathered in cheese*
So, this is the oldest reply ever probably, but Paleo doesn’t have to be expensive. While $20/wk is pretty impressive, I usually manage on keeping my bill at about $300-$400 a month eating mostly paleo. I do this by sticking to whats on sale and utilizing the farmer markets and CSA shares. I am hoping to save money in the future with my own garden. I came upon your article because I was looking for negative reviews from people that adhered to the paleo diet and it didn’t work out for them to find some cons or things to be on the look out for when following the diet. This article however just presented with either mis-information or a complete close-minded view of the diet. From my time reading about paleo, many people that advocate the diet suggest self experimentation to find what you will stick with and what makes you feel good. Paleo is not low carb. It seems to me that there are many sources that tell people the cut back on bread and sugar. If it makes you feel better to cut them out, you probably should. It doesn’t have to be expensive. Your article’s title is ridiculous, your article presumptive and while your conclusions I agree with, your credibility is lacking.
Its not more expensive… generally people on paleo are healthier and slimmer… hence they eat less food as they are not polluted with all the processed food. I have stopped using supermarkets nearly entirely and support local businesses which saves me about 44% on the cost of food. I have gained muscle and lost fat… how about you watch the truth about the propaganda that you must believe about grains and such ( the cash cow for the food industry)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7fsxgPjsiY&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Also, not really a fad diet… encourage everybody to eat organically must be much worse for them and the planet… that was sarcasm.
The reason why governments allow food companies to tell their lies is down to one thing… money.
Thank you for this. I particularly like the part about listening to your body to decide what is best. I am vegan because it is the diet that I feel best eating. But I know people who are Paleo who are constantly throwing articles and stats in my face and it drives me nutty. I believe in bio lindividuality and choosing the diet that is best for you at the moment based on how you feel when you eat certain foods. I don’t try to convince anyone to be vegan and expect the same respect but for some reason many people I know who eat the Paleo diet feel it’s ok to put down everyone else’s food choices because they think theirs are the best. I feel very sick when I eat meat and dairy period. I feel best when I eat tons of local produce and whole grains and other whole foods and no one can tell me I’m wrong.
Thanks for sharing your story, Jamie. You’re right–do what feels best for you.
The only real issue I have with this article is calling people who are trying to better their health “pathetic”. I wouldn’t trust someone with my health if they expressed this opinion.
Paleo is a good starting point for many people. Eating grains is a choice and you can be very healthy (and high carb!) Without them. You like grains and they don’t bother you? Good for you! They cause me terrible pain, bloating and exhaustion so I am better off without them. I am not pathetic and I’ll seek diet advice from someone less confrontational. I’m trying to get healthy, not have my blood pressure raised by someone insulting what works for me.
I think you make some pretty harsh criticisms about the Paleo diet in your article. I can tell you I am a college student who pays no more than $100 a week on groceries for 2 adults. I think if you look at the money you are not spending from buying soda, convince foods and, eating out and applying it to your grocery bill it is about the same if not less.
Secondly, I was always ill with sinus infections and chronic migraines and my doctor had me switch to an elimination diet starting with low histamine vegetables first and use the Paleo diet as a guide to reintroducing foods. I have learned that for me if I eat anything with processed oils a migraine will be triggered in less than 30 minutes and if I eat grains my stomach will be upset for several days. I don’t think you can just say the Paleo diet is just a fad diet, for me it is a way of life. It has changed my life. If I don’t follow this lifestyle I am literally in pain.
I’ve tried different diets, including paleo. Paleo felt good for the first few days, but after a few weeks I began to feel very run down. I develo
Bah — I say *bah* to the concept that only rich people can eat healthy. I think what you meant to say is that lazy people eat unhealthy. I live on the northside of Chicago and there’s a place called Stanley’s right on North Avenue where rich and poor shop side by side. It’s all organic and uber cheap. You can ALWAYS afford to eat just fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables alongside low fat meats. Please. That is the biggest garbage excuse in the book.
If you’re not eating healthy it’s because, by and large, you’re choosing to eat unheatlthy. I’m not talking about the homeless person eating at a soup kitchen — the *majority* of people eat unhealthy because they’re too lazy not to.
In large, urban areas, that may be the case but not every person in every small town has the same access to inexpensive healthy foods. In many areas choices are limited and cost is prohibitive.
Great blog here! Also your web site loads up fast! What host
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I eat a basically Primal diet, which is Paleo plus dairy. I include organic, raw, grass fed cheese which contains vitamin K2, something that is vital for the absorption of vitamin D, in which I am deficient. I also have whole milk from the local dairy, and organic yogurt. Is this lifestyle for everyone? Absolutely not! It IS expensive, but being sick is more expensive. I have to pick and choose what I purchase as organic. My sister feels better when she has some grains, and my cousin does better as a vegan. I happen to have fibromyalgia and hypothyroid. This is the first “diet” I’ve tried that has me feeling better rather than worse. Healthy diet isn’t so much about “food groups” which are a rather antiquated notion, but rather about nutrients. Every body is different in what it needs and how it absorbs those nutrients. For me, wheat makes me feel awful, with almost instant flares. I can do gluten free to some extent, but even grains like rice are not great for me over the long term. However, almonds can also add to inflammation and are a huge part of many Paleo diets. It all just depends on what your body can handle. So, I wouldn’t call Paleo pathetic. I’d say that claiming any one diet or way of life is right for every person would be pathetic, which is much of the point of this article I think. Thanks for the interesting discourse.
I’ve got to say I agree with the article. I think Paleo is fine if it’s working for you. But contrary to what many of you have argued (BC Rice and others) It is not affordable for many, many people. We are one of them. In most of the rural areas of this country, which there is a lot of people there, there aren’t any stores with grass-fed beef, and free range chickens, or even organic foods. Not everyone in rural areas are farmers they just live in the country. Most of the farms are not organic, nor do they raise grass fed cattle. And cattle farms only occupy certain areas of the country, many, most are dairy cattle. Good luck finding things like coconut flour? or almond flour. Sure they are online but again not affordable for most families. I don’t buy chicken leg 1/4s at .59/lb because we love it more than anything, I buy it because it is an affordable good quality protein for my family. Many more of us can’t afford organic, free range poultry, grass fed beef and coconut/almond flour than can. So if you can, great knock yourself out. But we just try not to go crazy with carbs, and eat what meat and fish we can afford. We eat seasonal and frozen vegetables (without sauces) and fruit. We stay away from prepackaged as much as possible. That’s what we, and most of America can afford.
::applause::
Thanks for this great article. :-). I’m flexitarian, and frustrated by how people flip from fat phobe vegangelical to paleovangelical. I got big help by giving up cow milk, candy, juices, refined grains, vegetable oils, Doritos, potato chips, . Now I drink water, do vegetables, berries, nuts, seeds, fruits, virgin coconut oil, unsweetened fortified coconut milk, insisting all grains be whole grains, . I get organic eggs when I can afford them, which is seldom. I go days or weeks without meat.I don’t weigh or measure food. No more rigid meal schedules.
Being flexitarian is about pragmatism, compassion, heal affordable food, and meeting your needs.
The fat phobe vegangelical hurts vegetarians by insist that organic eggs laid by healthy happy hens is nutrition/moral equivalent of killing/eating cute bunny rabbits or cows and pigs.
When I eat big bit of meat alone, my stomach hurts, feels like full of cement, and I lack energy efficiency, both physically and mentally.
I read that insects like locusts can be farmed with very small amounts of crops soil water space, far less than cows chickens pigs. Also insects like crowded conditions, thus it’s not cruel. Since their lives short, wait till almost the end then quickly painlessly, ,
Also the illogical corn ethanol program must end. Hunting is far less cruel dirty unnatural than factory farms currently operated.
Also you can read : sugar shock
Read : what I eat around the world in 80 diets
Watch: food fight!
Watch: fed up
Remember we flexitarians welcome new members; we have no gurus.
Again, thanks for this nice articles 🙂 🙂 :-).
Respectfully,
L
How silly for bloggers to go on this way. We really are a spoiled lot of self satisfied, smug, ridiculous people at times. If going paleo helps people get to a more healthful diet focused on whole food then it can’t be bad. And if some people get militant and over bearing, should we be surprised? Look at your response here. Obnoxious, rude, condescending, smart allecky. Which side looks more ridiculous?
Amber,
Without sounding too judgemental I was going to comment the same as you. Paleo is not an extreme diet unless you are talking to an extremist. Paleo is way of looking at what you are eating and asking, “is this working for me?”
Paleo has brought into the forefront many things that might never have been looked at if people didn’t care enough about the crap they shove down their facehole.
Depending on who you listen to, Paleo does not cut food groups. Hunter gatherers did not cut out food groups – neither does Paleo. Really, you should be listening to “you” for a change and not to someone else; about what you should eat… but if what you are eating is not bringing you optimum health then brush up on what is gong on here, otherwise you’ll be late for the bus.
A good friend of mine follows the Paleo diet very strictly and likes it. I tried to follow it but realized she and her husband earn high wages; my husband and I do not, plus we have kids, while she and her husband do not.
It’s easier for her to buy a week’s supply of coconut yogurt, grass-fed meats, etc., than for me, especially if my kids don’t like this food and I have to buy more foods to accommodate them and my husband.
I’d still love to give it a shot, but it ain’t happening in my tax bracket.
I’m an anthropologist with food and nutrition training. Paleo is the only diet that actually doesn’t need to be labeled a diet because it’s just eating food. We humans have a diet of eating food. You don’t need science or any article to convince you one way or another. What the majority of Americans are eating isn’t classified as food. It’s manmade and often times formulated in a laboratory.
All you need is some common sense. We all ate one way before 10,000 years ago and we ate what was available. If you put humans as a specimen in a zoo you wouldn’t hand them a pile of wheat. That stuff is inedible and was never meant to be eaten by anything. Wheat doesn’t want to be eaten because it needs to remain whole to reproduce. You wouldn’t hand the humans vegan approved Oreo cookies either. You would give them a diet of meat, fish, fruits, vegetables, and nuts. Do we feed the Gorillas animal crackers? No, we know what Gorillas eat in the wild and what they are supposed to eat.
Sure it’s expensive now but that’s because it’s not subsidized by our government. Our government subsidies go to overproducing corn and Medicare instead. When considering the cost of this “diet” you have to take into consideration future medical care costs. You’ll be healthier and have better teeth so lower medical care costs. People make choices in life so if it means not having an iPhone, cable TV, and a car then that’s what it takes to eat healthier. You can even grow your own vegetables at a fraction of the cost of buying them.
Oreos aren’t vegan, Oreo refuses culpability for that label. ..in fact many vegans don’t eat sugar..they eat beans, legumes, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, flax seeds, olive oil, black strap molasses, maybe tofu or mushroom burgers and kale. ..you sound ridiculously ignorant about what constitutes a healthy vegan diet, which is primarily whole foods based…some of the longest living people in the world are vegetarian or vegan, you can look up this fact, so please get over yourself when you say the paleo diet is the only diet that doesn’t need to be labeled a diet…gorillas are vegan, btw.
I’m showing up late to this party, but I gotta chime in – low carb? Yes if you want it, it’s highly adjustable. Sweet potatoes, and fruit – dried fruit for that matter; you’ll have to monitor yourself or you’ll get fat from the excess carbs. But why is lower carb, I’m not talking about zero carb going into ketosis bad? I eat carbs just not that much because I know having your insulin up all day is BAD. I think people overestimate how much carbs you actually need if you’re not an athlete. Expensive? Compared to what diet? Especially if you’re running a wellness site – is it more expensive than what you preach to eat? If you go totally organic/free range/grassfed, yeah. If you’re someone that eats conventionally that just wants to get healthier and clear up most of your diet-induced problems by incorporating the Paleo blueprint of just not eating any CRAP – NO, IT’S CHEAP AS HELL. I’ve got it down to anywhere from 2.50$-6$ a day. Chicken leg quarters, sweet potatoes and frozen veggies in bulk are cheap. Eat a pound of grassed liver a week as a “booster meal” – 4$. I got it down so my food bill is about $150/ a month. This took a tiny bit of experimentation but I’m trying to teach people to eat better while they’re in food-stamp level income. Like you said, adjust accordingly – main thing for people is usually $. Paleo principles and low income go perfectly if you’re not needing to make EVERYTHING organic, or can’t afford to. Eating organic/freerange is EXPENSIVE on ANY kind of diet, but I cycle around eating conventional chicken part of the week, free range organic ground beef I find cheap a couple times a week, throw in some free range eggs from trader joe’s here and there and still keep the total food bill WAAAAY less than compared to eating out for lunch ONCE a day, or buying two coffees at a starbucks. Paleo-style just seems to be the most nutrient dense, cleanest and simplest way to eat. Cut out all the processed crap and shop on the corners of the grocery store: meat, veggies and fruit, and frozen meat and veggies if it’s cheaper; it takes a little bit of shopping around and finding sources but it’s not that hard. Also happens to be: gluten free/safe for celiacs, lactose free (but I personally use lots of butter), free of all processed sugar and sugar substitutes, will get rid of all your food addictions and probably clear up allergies from a messed up gut, that will in turn make your immune system work optimally. All for less than a price of a jamba-juice smoothie a day. Do you have a diet you can think of that does all this for that price?
I understand what you’re trying to say – that the paleo diet isn’t for everyone – and you’re very likely right about that one. Maybe a different title would’ve gotten your point across more effectively, though. I don’t think anyone who transitions to this way of eating is “pathetic” in any way. There are issues with our current food supply – foods that were likely ok at one point have been over-hybridized, or worse, genetically altered. This, along with hormones, food additives and overprocessing, result in major health issues. And because doctors receive such little training in nutrition (from the schools that are funded by drug corporations and the like), they are often at a loss, so pills are prescribed. To make atters worse, we live in a society of entitlement, and we’re regularly exposed to crap advertisements that try to dupe us into eating and living in ways that profit corporations while taxing our health.
People are trying to take the driver’s seat again. Maybe more in the US because that’s where a lot of these current issues are concentrated. There are, however, a lot of people in other parts of the world doing a primal-type diet.
Bottom line is that it’s great for a lot of people. Those who aren’t educated about food aren’t necessarily dumb – just mislead. But there’s no denying the fact that unprocessed foods are a good thing. Because grains and certain legumes are often the foods most tampered with, I think it’s not a bad idea to try eliminating them from the diet for a bit to see how things go. Paleo dieters are removing the foods that are often triggers for bad health. Nothing wrong with that.
That said, some people do fine with grains & other foods that the paleo crowd avoid. Nothing wrong with that either.
As a recent convert to the primal-type diet, both my husband and I are thriving. We have discovered issues with grains, dairy and soy that were previously masked by general malaise. Unfortunately these foods are commonly difficult to tolerate these days. I don’t think demonizing any food is right despite this fact. I think instead that we need to hold corps like Monsanto accountable for their effect on our food supply and health, and we need to look at our own priorities & realize that lifestyle changes need to be made, instead of blaming a group of health proponents who are trying to find a solution to this growing epidemic.
Just to add, we never say we eat “paleo”. It sounds obnoxious. Instead, we quietly go about our business and if asked, we explain what we eat and why. We never push it on others.
Eventually, we will try to reintroduce some dairy and possibly certain grains. For now, this is the way we want (and likely need) to eat.
I don’t like putting a label on the way I eat. I also don’t believe in relying on what our ancestors may/may not have eaten. I just know that this way of eating works for us.
Kat, you are one of the few rational commenters on this post. Thanks for your input, feedback, and for sharing your experience. 🙂
Hi Gretchen,
Thanks for your post. Have you checked out “Paleofantasy” by Marlene Zuk? I think you’d really like it.
I had a similar experience as you with breastfeeding and the vegan diet. I had been vegan about a year when I was breastfeeding my second son. I found I had to eat A LOT. Not like, break the bank a lot- but just much much more than I was used to. But I wasn’t that skilled at planning really balanced, nutrient dense vegan meals. I was kind of just eating the Standard American Diet minus meat and dairy plus some extra veggies. While I was still breastfeeding him I got pregnant again… and I hit a huge hunger wall! I was stressed (working full time), nauseous, tired and hungry and eventually returned to what seemed comfortable and natural which was eating some meat. Knowing what I know now about vegan cooking and nutrition I would have made a different choice. After my daughter was born I went back to eating a fully vegan diet within a couple of weeks. She breastfed for a year and is my first vegan from birth baby. I definitely appreciate that I need to listen to my body. Although, to be truthful sometimes my body tells me I need to smoke a bunch of cigarettes. Luckily my mind steps in and says “Miriam, you must be crazy stressed! You must need to go for a run.” I guess I just wonder when I hear someone say their body tells them to eat meat (since I’ve said the same thing myself :)) is it possible their body is just saying “I need a ton of nutrient dense food.. stat!”
I have eaten healthy for almost 2 decades. I’m middle aged, 2 healthy pregnancies, same weight for 20 yrs. 5,6 and 125 lbs. No extreme diets, just healthy fats, grass meats, organic fruit, veggies, quinoa, seeds, nuts, homemade foods, homemade treats not store bought, carbs when I wanted though not to excess. Regular exercise, gardening, etc. Always had great check ups and cholesterol, all my blood panels were ‘perfect’. Until all of a sudden this fall I became oddly hypoglycemic on a daily basis. My dr had me start charting my blood glucose levels and wow, what I discovered. My healthy grains, whole wheat whatever, etc, was sending my blood sugars too high for too long! With a type 2 diabetic grandfather & prediabetic mother, I now understood that genetics play a part in my destiny as well as what I eat. After a few days on paleo – no more hypoglycemia. Blood sugars stable, no nosedives that send me scrambling to eat. I’m not all OMG PALEO! But for some people this is what works to manage their situation. Yes, I still eat carbs, but I had to rethink what kind of carbs. I don’t want to lose any weight either. My main goal is to avoid diabetes.
You bring up some good points about genetics, Hilde. Thanks for your comments.
I just wanted to thank you so much for this post. It resonated with me and helped me to breathe a huge sigh of relief when in comes to intuitive eating and doing what’s right for ME! I won’t get into the debate on this topic. It’s honestly not worth it. But I will say that I tried a Paleolithic diet a few years ago and followed it to the letter under the supervision of a qualified professional and my body rejected it with a vengeance. I have the journals, medical records and months of bloodwork to prove it. I’m a firm believer that there is no one way of eating that works for everyone. Do what works for you. Period! So thank you (and bravo to you) for this insightful read!
After reading your post and your comments it seems abundantly clear that you a very against the paleo lifestyle ( before anyone says anything I am not paleo ) and instead of this being a “discussion” it is information about YOUR opinion.
Having recently returned from travelling in Australia I learned that a lot of people follow the paleo lifestyle there and the way of eating is growing in the UK. It’s not just “Anglo-Americans”. Yes it may be to do with wealth but that goes hand-in-hand with education, opportunity etc. Poorer economies don’t have the chance to eat in this way but that is no reason to abuse that lifestyle choice.
What is wrong with saying your paleo if you are? A vegetarian isn’t going to say, “Oh no, I’m not a vegetarian, I just don’t eat meat.” It’s a word to describe your diet. Surely that’s okay?
I think people are just trying to let people know there are other ways of doing things out there!
Being that I own this website, I would have to say that you are correct in the idea that it represents my opinions. However, the experts quoted in my post seem to be of the same, so it’s not that I’m pulling this out of my ass, Ellie. I have no problem with anyone calling what they do or how they eat any name they’d like. I DO have a problem with the assumption that anyone not eating a certain way is inherently wrong or unhealthy.
I am so sick of Paleolitests. And sorry to tell you, Craig, but you are oozing hypocrisy (and bad grammar and spelling, as well). Don’t sit there and say “I like people who aren’t defensive” and “no one diet works for everyone” but then add “if you’re going to say (something that counters what I believe in), then walk away” and “this works for me and my clients.”
I am an endurance athlete, and if you were my personal trainer, I would report your ass to your credentialing board. Because even though there is no white sugar or donuts or candy etc within 100 feet of my house, guess what? When you are running 50 miles in 88* sunshine with 90% humidity, those Skittles and Cheez-Its and Krispy Kreams are pretty damn awesome. And guess what else? I also lift weights, do a bunch of other sports and activities…and sometimes, I throw down a bacon double cheeseburger and fries. But if you open my fridge, you won’t find “1/2 a cow” or dairy or any meat. I don’t prepare that stuff and eat vegan at home.
So I don’t fit into any neat little box, but I also have the brains enough to know what a scientific peer reviewed journal looks like (looking at you 1/2 cow lady) versus a cultish lazy website approach dictating my health. I find it really interesting that all these Paleo people talk about how “it was the only thing that helped me” but none of them ever mention getting off their fat artery clogged ass and exercising.
Oh wait, that’s right. They do crossfit. The Paleo of exercise.
I love bacon, but you will never convince me that “we like bacon so much we posted it twice NOM NOM” is sound dietary advice (yes that is actually posted on one of those Paleo websites that you would have to be a caveman to understand.
I think I am going to reframe my approach to my hatred towards Paleo (OH NOES I AM ANOTHER GRAIN LOVER WATCH OUT) and decide that really, it’s just the millennium approach to basic Darwinism. Weed out the dumb ones and get their Evangelical-style preaching off my social media.
#morevegetablesthanavegetarianisthesignaltoruntheotherwaybecauseyouhaveenteredthelevelofhellwherethemoronsreignsupreme
I read that over and realized I left out a comma and a “)”
I tried to fix it but my “bullet proof coffee” got in the way.
Because that’s how I am sure the cavemen drank–they put butter in their caffeine and then hashtagged the hell out of how we were genetically programmed to do that.
I don’t have much to say here, “UGH!” other than Paleo is clearly hitting a nerve for you, and the resulting rant kinda made my night. Also, the fact that you re-commented with a punctuation correction confirms your awesomeness.
Thank you. I slept last night (sort of) and am a little calmer (sort of) today. But I am really still annoyed with this topic, and am finding that for me, it’s not just a content but it’s process of this debate.
I honestly have the same issue with any extreme stance that becomes a hot topic online (crossfit, pitbulls, and of course, vaccines)…I think we all to some degree fancy ourselves as “I don’t judge” and “live and let live” (myself included) but at the end of the day, we struggle with stating something (as in, observe and describe–just the facts ma’am) and inputting our own opinion of why, and essentially “should-ing” all over the place.
Further, we are able to instantly attain confirmation bias online; in a couple clicks we can find something to support our mindset and then run with it…often without delay to de-escalaste and/or consciously or unconsciously evaluate if this debate is even something worth our time, or even if we really care about it all that much. Furthermore, by just hitting google, we are lead immediately to something that supports what we were already thinking.
I heard the other day that the internet may be making us dumber, and now I am seeing why. (Myself included; this is how I found this page!) We just look for things that confirm what we want to believe. I read a lot of pro and anti-Paleo stuff, but this was the only site I replied to. (Actually that is not true; I got in a debate with some woman on another site who fancies herself to be some Paleo guru and, in my opinion, is suffering severe ortharexia and even a little delusional…I challenged her statement repeatedly that she was eating “more vegetables than a vegetarian” and she then posted publicly my IP address which is one of the less stable things I have seen someone do online, ever.)
My problem with these extremists is again, not only is this junk logic (really? eat all the bacon you want?) and potentially dangerous to people (my stepfather had a quad bypass …why did the medical professionals at one of the top medical schools in the world tell him to ease up on the fat and salt? Are you pro-Paleos going to tell me you know more than a cardiologist at a leading research university? Really? Would you have stood there, while he was having a heart attack, and tell the surgeons and specialists they were wrong? If so, I encourage you to take pause for a moment and consider how you would respond if someone, who had only read a couple books by a non-professional with no supporting research or real proof, jumped in and told you how to do YOUR job. And then, if your job involved saving a life, told you that you were doing it wrong because they “read a book by (someone no-one ever heard of until a couple years ago)”…it is scary, actually)…but also HOW extremists deliver their info.
I linked this blog to a friend of mine, who pointed out that the original post is quite extreme and I agree. And even though it happens to support my own belief, I think there’s something to be said for observing the process of what happened here. HM took an ironic extreme view about how defensive and narrow the Paleos were, and the Paleos replied in just that way. If anything, these debates just push me more into my own view. I have actually lost real-life friends based on their frustration with me going, “really? prove it”…and because they can’t, they storm off in a huff, taking it personally as if it defines them, me, and our friendship. And I don’t even mean just scientific proof here. To use the example of “more vegetables than a vegetarian”: said earlier fanatic woman I mentioned, lays out her menu for the week. I counted 3 servings of vegetables TOTAL–2 of which were tubers, and probably count more as the “carbs” that the Paleos love to remind us of. I am not a vegetarian, but I eat way more than that at each meal. She doesn’t seem to like/agree with me, and the tunnel vision and walls shot up…so there you go.
I agree that the food pyramid is jacked and likely biased towards the dairy and wheat industry. I also agree that Americans probably eat too much sugar in general. But to say that wheat = dementia and schizophrenia and it’s part of some huge hidden conspiracy (it’s not that hidden actually at all) sounds like a cult. Really. Look at the checklist for criteria for a cult and tell me if you, dear Paleo, don’t qualify.
I have spent entirely too much time on this today and need to go do something that will actually matter in my life. Like crush it in beast mode. Not really–I hate crossfit too.
I just started eating primally about a week ago and so far I feel awesome. I have always stuggled with weight. Last summer I worked with a personal trainer and religiously followed my macros, calories, blah blah and I lost a total of 15 pounds in four months before finally giving up. That is merely one story but this has been a recurring theme in my life. I have always had sleeping issues, dry skin, thin hair, bloating (even though I drank exactly 8 glasses a day), achy joints, and depression.
I am only one week in so I can’t say anything about the long term but over the past week I have lost almost 3 pounds eating the same amount of calories as before (1800), I feel energized, I’m getting to sleep around 1:30 am instead of 4:30 am and I’m still able to wake up on time the next day, my knees don’t hurt anymore, I feel happy and hopeful for the future, and the ideas presented in Mark Sisson’s book “The Primal Blueprint” have kind of changed my perspective as far as life priorities go. I spend more time with my child and I try not to sweat the small stuff. If my house is a little messy then so be it, my and my daughter are going to go outside and play anyways.
The primal diet is supposed to be more than a diet. It’s eliminating processed foods and changing your lifestyle as well.
It may not work for everyone but the changes I’ve seen in myself and my mindset, even though they may just be beginning, is far from “pathetic”.
You do know that with ANY died you will lose weight right up front though, right? And if in fact it IS “about eliminating processed foods,” why not eat brown rice? Or beans? Like the majority of the world has subsided on, for years? paleo Jo is a self proclaimed “expert” (who has done little more than read some books and spew some who about wheat belly…yet eats salami. Packaged salami. You don’t think THAT is processed?
As a medical student, paleo is not “ketogenic” unless you aren’t eating sugar. Those on paleo eat can eat fresh fruit often. Therefore, they can get plenty of sugar to avoid excess production of ketones associated with low blood sugar. I will not spit out scientific terms, but #2 simply isn’t accurate. It may be that way for some on the diet, but not for those who are eating adequately.
Thanks, Correction. I appreciate your comments and I’ll look into that further. I’ve never claimed to be a nutritionist, that’s for sure. A “true Paleo” diet includes fresh fruit, but some fruits are excluded.
Ok, so the expense is one thing(and certainly a crucial one), but am I crazy for wondering what the carbon footprint of a diet heavy on animal protein and fat a Paleo/primal diet is? I realize most people believe that they “are worth it”, but that just comes off as a little selfish if you ask me(and of course no one did). I am far from an environmental kook, but you don’t have to perform a lot of research to see that the current(and predicted future increase) in animal production is likely to cause more pollution and yadayada..Sorry to say, but there aint enough grass in the world for the whole world to eat grass fed beef as a cornerstone of their diet…Shunning legumes, whole grains and healthy vegetable fats from diets does at least appear, faddish. One, two or even ten studies do not necessarily make the case for something. Meta analysis and many RCT are what I need to accept something as science. The current range of healthy foods we have to choose from, along with many other advances, have fed millions while increasing the life expectancy year after year.
Pastured beef is carbon-negative so not only is it not selfish, it’s really quite thoughtful and sustainable.
Ruminants can be pastured on non-arable land. This land makes up the largest collective land-mass in the world and takes nothing from current cropland. Cereals and legumes are devastating to our crop-land, the local eco-system, and they’re resource-hogs.
You’re not a kook, you’re informed and numerous scientists plus the United Nations agree with you. You’re only a “kook” in the eyes of willfully ignorant self indulgent Americans who watch too much tv so they can forget that the earth is burning down around them.
The Paleo diet is worse than just junk science or animal cruelty…it’s completely horrific in terms of environmental impact, first world elitism (grass fed beef is not a way to farm that would allow numerous people such copious amounts of beef…this is why factory farms exist)…not to mention that these wahoos actually tout eating large quantities of pork products and seem blissfully unaware that the healthiest and oldest people living on earth are either vegetarian or eat similarly to a Mediterranean diet with fish and small portions of lean meat a few times a week (instead of a few times a day).
The most comical and sad thing about all of it is that early man had rather limited access to meat, because they were hunters, and spent much more time eating nuts, berries and leaves. ..this is why meat was important back then, because it was a rare highly caloric dense meal. Paleo is pathetic in more ways than one, but I guess it’s good that it gets some people away from processed food. It’s been voted worst diet like two years in a row now…
I was just doing some research about Blue Zones. You know, the studies that incorporate scientific research about health from all over the world. Well go figure, eating carbs and beans is actually correlated with life longevity. Who knew?
Oh right. People who actually don’t mindlessly follow some guru with no scientific background or real data to support some silly fad diet based on junk logic.
I don’t disagree we all eat too much sugar. Nor do I at all support the abundance of politically-driven push towards processed corn and questionable food pyramids.
But all this talk about “wheat belly” and “inflammation” as truth wher there is REAL research (some of which is not even receiving kickbacks from big sugar!). It is like listening to a 2 year old tantrum about going down the tub drain despite you explaining plumbing, physics, gravity, size, mass, etc….Paleo people are brainwashed. But given the REAl research, they will all be dead in a couple years so we won’t have to listen to their dumb mouths anymore, anyway.
This article is almost 2 years old and I hope that in months since you wrote this piece, you’ve taken the time to get educated about what the Paleo diet template is actually about. I’d love to see a post that addresses your former misconceptions and mistakes– one that references some actual expert modern-Paleo resources. An apology for calling people’s diets “pathetic” wouldn’t hurt either.
It’s been voted worst diet by doctors two years in a row. Do you live on Mars?
It’s been voted worst diet by *which* doctors. Or do you mean it has been ranked worst diet by the agricultural conglomerates who want to sell us processed foods? I guess I am better off on a “beer and pizza” diet than my current diet of meat, veggies, home-made bone broth, etc.?
this mama likes to fib and make up rules about something she obviously knows very little about… Perhaps she should learn what the Paleo concept of eating REALLY is before she writes an article on it. First of all, it’s not a diet. Secondly, it’s flexible. Thirdly, Paleo concepts are built on eating real, unprocessed foods. And lastly, it has absolutely nothing to do with a ketogenic diet.
why Why WHY do Paleotrons insist that anyone who has challenged them “has not done their research”???
Nothing made me laugh harder and choke on my brown rice and beans more than the butthurt that ensued after the recent WHO report about cured meat and cancer. NOM NOM BACON durrrrrrr
But I guess that all those top scientists from all over the world must just not have done their research. Because as we know, our leader Rob Wolff really knows everything there is to know and anyone else just needs to be educated.
Paleo does not advocate consuming processed meats. Atkins did. “all those top scientists from all over the world..” just agreed with the Paleo community that you should not eat processed meat.
Studies on red meat causing cancer include processed meat which is a different category. The studies showing that just red meat causes cancer are probably correct though. However the epidemiological studies showing this are with populations that eat meat and don’t eat many vegetables. The Paleo diet includes more actual vegetables than many vegetarians get. And what studies have been done show that ample vegetable intake negates the cancer risk for meat.
Maybe that is why “Paleotrons insist that anyone who has challenged them has not done their research.”
Banging I’m really glad you’re eating all that brown rice with all the anti-nutrients it has in it. I’d suggest going with white rice over the brown rice. If it’s for the fiber, proteins, thiamine, calcium, magnesium, or potassium there are better options out there than brown rice, same with the beans.
I will never understand why people will put stuff into their own bodies that at best has limited nutritional value and at worst is proven to cause autoimmune diseases. Along with all the anti-nutrients and the things that grains and legumes can and do cause to a person’s digestive system, why do you insist on eating something that clearly wasn’t meant to be eaten by you or any other human. There are far better ways to get the nutrients and proteins found in grains and legumes; that are not as harsh on humans. Had you done your research you would have known this.
I indulge in bacon once in a while. A lot of people do. You know what I eat a lot more of though? Fresh fruits and vegetables. Nothing that has to go through a factory to remove this part of the plant or another just so you can eat it.
Besides no one said anything about foods high in nitrates not causing cancer. Maybe that’s why those of us who have chosen to live a Paleo Lifestyle have done so, we’ve researched it and found foods that are healthier and better for us to eat. Next time, do a little research before spouting off at the mouth and looking like a fool. Remember it’s better to be thought a fool, than open your mouth and remove all doubt.
Vegan is expensive??? Only if you try to duplicate the Standard American Diet with vegan “Faux” Foods — which are processed and unhealthy. Build your diet on Beans, Sweet potatoes, greens, and inexpensive whole grains like millet, buckwheat, and rice with small amounts of raw nuts and seeds and a bit of fruit and that is about as low-cost as it gets. Unprocessed plant foods have always been the lowest cost option — that’s why traditionally it is what the peasants and poor relied upon for sustenance!
Here’s another perspective on why some people believe Paleo has helped them…
http://joannfarb.weebly.com/blog
If you are a Paleotard then just remember to ignore the strong scienctific evidence showing that humans DID eat grains much earlier than 10,000 years ago but never ate bacon or any nitrated meats of any kind.
Whilst you’re at it, try to pretend that almost all modern fruits and vegetables existed back then and are are creations of selective breeding over 1000s of years that are unrecognisable from what grew wild in the paleolithic era.
I’ve love to know which studies show cavemen eating almond flour, coconut milk, grass-fed butter and broccoli.
First where is this scientific evidence you speak of? I can post link after link of archeological evidence showing that the oldest settlements to have stone age tools for grain harvesting is fifteen thousand years old at best. That’s with calibrated radio carbon dating. Grain harvesting is labor intensive even with today’s technology, it would have been even more so during the late stone age/early bronze age. Prior to that point we were a hunter/gather species and did not farm grains. There is archeological evidence showing that we made tools to remove tubulars, rhimazodes, and edible roots. There is no archeological record to support farming of grains prior to this.
I’m doubtful of any stone age human eating grains other than in grabbing a handful here and there because they were hungry and saw animals do so. Grains are extremely hard on humans to digest, but they do fill you up.
No one ever said stone age people had bacon. I’m pretty sure they had almonds, walnuts, cashews, and other nuts that we don’t have today. I’m also sure they had fruits and vegetables that we don’t have today. I’m also pretty sure we have fruits and vegetables that they didn’t have along with fruits and vegetables that have remained unchanged. Plants from the Night Shade family have been along for a long time. They had saber tooth tiger and wooly mammoth to eat, we don’t have those, your right.
I’d like to know which study shows Doritos, Cheetos, Lil Debby, and instant oatmeal is healthy for us. The things you listed for studies is far healthier for us than what I listed for us.
I dont care what they say, I cannot and will not give up my bread. Back to the gym and WW now, am losing the weight and getting healthier every day. Previously prediabetic and now my blood sugars are normal. Arthritic pain 90% gone.
Who has the time to prepare/cook a Paleo gourmet recipe three times a day? Foods have to be quick, convenient and cheap! Sometimes all I have is 5 minutes to whip up a quick tuna green salad sandwich for lunch.
How did Paleo start? Did the food giants employ someone to start this new fad in order to boost profits in the market that includes meat, almond flour, coconut oil and every (expensive) food they recommend we “should” eat?
Wow. A lot of people here saying a lot of nothing. Mostly vehement tirades. However the bulk of such nonsense seems to be written by those attacking Paleo. This is a science issue. Unfortunately there is a huge reservoir of nutrition science with many contradictions. Most of those contradictions come from poorly done studies. Poorly done because they were done by humans who had their biases. Dumb humans. But nobody else is doing them. Only humans.
So you can banter various studies until you are deep in your shouting match but you really need to read the original peer reviewed study and see what the bias is. A difficult task even for those who are non-biased and astute thinkers.
However, you don’t need to rely on studies if you can directly experience something yourself. Try something out for yourself. Does it work? For many people the paleo diet has vastly improved their health. Something that powerful is likely to attract some very loyal followers. Go figure.
Is there some flake within that community? Yes. Is the notion that we need to eat like our ancestors rather absurd since they ate so differently depending on where they lived? Yes. If those things bother you, you are not alone. There is not a diet out there, vegan, vegetarian, Mediterranean, etc. that hasn’t attracted elitists and snobs. None of these mentioned factors should influence your evaluation of a diet. Or anything for that matter. Considering the many Christians who have murdered in the name of God doesn’t make God the villain. No idea is responsible for the people who believe in it. No diet is either.
Let’s look at this article point by point. First the title is inflammatory. Calling a person’s efforts “pathetic” shouts that the author has some emotional problems.
Reason 1. “One could probably notice the same benefits with any change of diet.” As a registered dietitian I can say, as would all dietitians, that this is certainly not true. In fact no health professional does.
Reason 2. “A strict Paleo diet can be labeled as a “ketogenic diet,””. The Paleo diet is not ketogenic. Atkins was ketogenic, and then only in the induction phase. A ketogenic diet excludes all carbohydrates. The Paleo does not. Some people do take it that far but you miss out on a lot of nutrition if you do and the Paleo community as a whole knows that.
Reason 3. “Paleo-philes seem to operate on the notion that our ancestors were a particular type of person, hunting and gathering a specific type of diet, and that our bodies are “designed” to process only certain types of foods. You have this right. And I agree that it isn’t a cogent argument for eating Paleo. This is a problem the movement has. The diet is nutritionally sound because it is, not because it mimics, or attempts to mimic some ancestral diet.
However it would be prudent to remember that the “food groups” we have all been indoctrinated in are an arbitrary category developed by the Department of Agriculture to support American agriculture. They did use some of the science at the time but it was primarily designed to accommodate the American farmer and their products. That’s the mandate the Department of Ag has. That is why they were created. Most of the world’s population cannot digest dairy. So how does a food that most humans cannot even digest be considered a food group? Eliminating it would put you in the majority of the world’s population.
Reason 4. ” It’s expensive. And exclusionary. Paleo isn’t for everyone; it’s for the upper-class.” While it is debatable lets assume that it is more expensive. Certainly that would be true if you were buying pasture raised meat. The Mediterranean diet has the same problem for many people. Considering the flood of cheap carbohydrates on the market it is more expensive to eat any diet that is considered healthy. And you don’t have to eat organic or pasture raised to eat Paleo.
Another point to consider is the total expense. You may save on costs up front by consuming cheaper food but you will definitely pay a lot more in poor health and medical bills later.
Reason 5. ” Individual bodies have individual needs at any given time.” Yes and no. Basic nutrition and physiology is the same for everyone. Yes some people have metabolic and and health issues that require tweaking their diet. One person may need more vitamin C or zinc. Another may need more or less carbohydrates. But everybody has the same nutritional needs. There are just variables within those needs. The Paleo diet can accommodate the vast majority of those needs. You may have to tweak it for you specific body but it will still be Paleo. I need a little more carbohydrates than what most consider Paleo.
Do I eat Paleo? No. I eat an autoimmune protocol that evolved out of the Paleo. It is a lot stricter than the paleo. It sucks. It also lifts me out of disability. But the reality is I need to do it to stay well. Like so many people who have reclaimed their health when medicine had nothing to offer any argument against it is ludicrous.
If you don’t like it then don’t. I don’t see the need to attack it. That seems like a religious response more than anything else. The song from Frozen, Let it Go, was overplayed and drove a some people crazy to. Maybe you should let everybody know the 5 reasons “Let It Go” is pathetic.
Another blog bashing Paleo, normally I wouldn’t comment but I have to this time.
Number One: not true, just like we have started to learn that our dogs and cats need to be fed a diet high in meats, vegetables, and fruits, with no grains. While it’s true there is no perfect diet for humans there are optimal diets and less than ideal diets. No one who lives a Paleo lifestyle is saying it’s perfect, however it is far better for the human body than a diet with grains which the human body isn’t always capable of digesting and is naturally designed not to give off all of its nutrients. Outside of grains and legumes can you tell me one other food that can typically be identified by sight in feces?
Number Two: Ketogenic diets are just that, diets. Using Paleo as a diet for a long period of time most likely will cause this to happen. Living Paleo as a lifestyle, it will not happen. I personally still get a lot of carbs in my diet, from eating fresh vegetables, fruits, and potatoes. Do you know why potatoes are a no go for most people living Paleo? Do some research and you’ll see. I just chose not to remove them from my diet.
Number Three: Cutting out entire food groups doesn’t make sense or have any basis in science? Humans have been on the planet for 1.5 million years, and it’s only been the past ten thousand years or so since we started farming and eating grains, legumes, and bovine dairy products. I would have to say that evolutionary science does say it makes sense. Ten thousand years ago we ate fresh fruits, vegetables, and meats. The fact that Candidiasis is fed by grains and dairy products, should be reason enough to remove it from your diet. If that doesn’t convince you, why must the human body create mucus to move grain, dairy products, and processed foods from the gut, to the intestines, and colon so the body can remove it?
Number Four: Living a Paleo Lifestyle is no more expensive than trying to be healthy buying things that aren’t healthy for you but look like they are. Since have switched to Paleo the money I’ve spent on food has dropped. I’ll tell you why, I no longer buy sodas, juices, dairy, and processed meats. When you cut all of those things out of your diet and get rid of their costs, the money you’d spend on that can go to other things. I almost made the mistake of buying a bag of almond flour at wal mart the other night, 9 dollars for a quarter pound bag. I can get a full pound of it online for that price.
Number Five: “Individual bodies have individual needs at any given time.” All bodies have the same basic nutritional needs, when met each person is healthy. When it’s not met it causes a number of health problems for the individual. Some may need more food or less food depending on what they are doing at that time.
We do not give our ancestors the respect they rightfully deserve. When we look at them today we think god it must have been horrible to live back then and die so violent. People fail to release that the notion of humans being hunters and gathers died out with the Neanderthals. Our lineage, while living in tribes, starting to settle down for three or four months at a time. We followed the seasons, more and more archeological evidence is starting to show this. That tells me we learned how to cultivate vegetables and fruits long before we started farming grains.
I can prove that humans lived to be older than we thought. Menopause in female humans, this would have allowed older females to stop having offspring, while at the same time allow them to pass their knowledge on to their children and grandchildren. New research is looking at “midlife crisis” in human males. It may be an evolutionary trait that allowed older men who didn’t normally go with the hunting parties to go back out a few more times before they couldn’t; so as to share his knowledge of hunting with his children and grandchildren.
Can A Strong Core Reduce… Even Eliminate Your Joint Pain?
You may have heard that a strong core is important for physical fitness.
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Why?
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It’s already improving my life. I think it can do the same for you.
Hey HealthfulMama,
You know what I would really respect? An article of you trying the Paleo diet for 30 days and reporting your results. Do some more research and go in with an open mind.
I started the autoimmune paleo diet after seeing 15 doctors in 7 years to heal crippling arthritis. I was a single mom with 2 kids and I was desperate. After a month, I could walk again and after three months I was 95% better. My story is not unique. Please check out Pheonix Helix or The Paleo Mom blogs. These are women who are changing the world.
I understand that Paleo sounds like all the things you said before you really understand it. It seemed crazy to me at first too. I urge you to do more research and give it a try yourself. If nothing else, this will make an interesting read for your followers.
For me, it changed my life.
I also wanted to address the idea that Paleo is for the privileged. I have lived in developing countries and Paleo is the way many people eat who live in rural areas -meat on occasion, lots of vegetables, some fruit and no processed food. In America we have subsidies that make corn cheap. Our tax dollars go to big corporations to help them feed us food containing corn more cheaply. Our government is bought out by big food corporations that make sure to keep processed food cheaper than whole food.
Thanks for taking the time to listen.
I started use of Primal Blueprint diet couple months ago. I have to say that I do not eat alot of red meat and I use Chia Seeds Powder in my smoothies every day. I have not lose a lot of weight, but… My bad cholesterol is down from 174 to 125 for two months. My doctor could not believe it.
So, we can argue as much as we want, but it does work for me. I have never been a big lover of bread, so it is easy for me refuse the carbs. I will keep my diet and in three months my doctor wants to repeat a blood work. The result I will post again.
I don’t see the danger in red meat, providing it’s grass fed and consumed once or twice a week, which I do. I have recently started a Paleo-like diet maybe a week ago and I can already see an upgrade in energy. I simply cut out pasta and rice and cut down on sugar and beer perhaps by 75%. I’m not giving up bread, though, I have that twice a week. I eat wild salmon, sardines, eggs, and even nitrate-free bacon and butter. I’m eating more vegetables and continuing to exercise. Moderation is the key.
“I DO have a problem with the assumption that anyone not eating a certain way is inherently wrong or unhealthy”
Ok I’ll admit it Im a paleo guy.
But yes… I’m over it too.
The author is right with many points on this one. She’s blunt. But its because she cares.
Ive read every comment here and as a former personal trainer even I myself was taken back by some of the comments made in the paleo blogs.
Lets be clear. I like “some” parts of what some of the paleo people are doing. But it’s the reckless approach and (often times) unnecessary scare tactics is what turns me off.
A very small example from Katie, Wellness momma :
“NEVER eat vegetable oil”
“Even the least bit of sugar is harmful”
“Grains are to blame for basically… everything”
So I guess the athletes in stellar health who drink cup after cup of Gatorade, carb load with grape juice post workout. Kids with a Piece of cake at birthdays … imagine that. Oh the smiles. And I like coconut oil. But my eggs, fish, and chicken, don’t necessarily need to be cooked in it.
What gets lost in all this.. is that it’s also just as important that we halfway enjoy our food and have some sort of life too.
At some point sense and middle ground needs to come into play.